Tales of reincarnation
by Liedes
Summary: "Point is, I didn't expect that. Dying, I mean – and in an overly embarrassing way, too! How many people die by tripping on a root and falling head on a f-cking rock (hidden by all the fallen leaves of the trees, by the way) during a walk in the woods!" [half-SI/OC, Mainly first person PoV] [Characters: multiple OCs, Asakura Family, Main cast, Others] {SUSPENDED}
1. Chapter 01: A brand new beginning

**Hi there!**

 **So, after a century of reading I decided to go and try to write my first multi-chapter fanfic in English (which, by the way, is not my mother language, so please point out mistakes I have made in the grammar and anything that doesn't sound good to you). I'm open to criticism.**

 **But back to the story, well... it will probably follow a random line (either the manga's or the anime's, I havent decided yet) and there may be some changes in the original storyline in the future. The first chapters will merely serve as introduction.**

 **And since I'm a fan of Original Characters and Self Insert/Reincarnation Fanfictions, I tried to write one with a Reincarnated OC. So yeah...**

 **I'm not sure how often I'll update, but I'll do my best.**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes. (I'm not sure if I should put M instead since** **I'm not used to the rating here - please tell me if you think I should change that!)**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

To be honest in the past I have thought about how to end my own life, which I often referred to as "difficult", "tiring", "unfair" and so on (at the time I was quite the depressed-like girl who thought that the entire world wanted her to be sad and all). I was often in a suicidal mood and I feel kind of embarrassed about that now: there weren't real reasons behind that and I often took small things for big.

Point is, being a twenty years old Italian girl, with all her life ahead of her, a rather good work, an apartment of her own and some very good friends to talk to, I didn't expect _that_. Dying, I mean – and in an overly embarrassing way, too! How many people die by tripping on a root and falling head on a f-cking rock (hidden by all the fallen leaves of the trees, by the way) during a walk in the woods?!

That's lame, indeed.

And even if I was not the type who would think about future and family and children (gosh, I was too young) and a husband – or a wife – to care about... well, it still sucked. But it sucked even more the fact that I couldn't do a thing against that: the paramedics already did all they could to save me and theirs were the last faces I saw.

Which is, by all means, a good thing: I knew I couldn't stand seeing mom, granny or dad crying over my almost-dead body.

A sad story with a sad ending – and I didn't even had the occasion to end all the mangas I started.

 _Death sucks._

* * *

 _When you hear the beeping becoming a stilled sound and you feel weaker and weaker, you are dead with no mistakes._

 _Once your brain dies, your body has the same fate: you slowly fade into nothingness and disappear..._

«Well, aren't you melodramatic.»

 _...and theorically you cannot hear voices nor other sounds._

That is, unless there's really something like an afterlife or something, which I really did not have faith in.

«Oh, an atheist then? Interesting choice, even though it does not matter.»

 _Okay, what the heck is going on? I'm dead, for Christ's sake! Can't I even rest in peace? No, of course: I have to hear voices that talk nonsense and- oh gosh, you f-cking read my thoughts!_

I heard a soft chuckle before that voice answered. «I surely did. Problems?»

Was she a troll or something? Because I started to imagine her – at least, I thought it was a _she_ by the way of speaking and the voice, but still I knew that voices were not reliable when you had to tell someone's gender. But still... - grinning like a Cheshire cat.

 _Go away, this is my limbo and I did not invite you here. Let me die alone._

«I'm afraid I can't, young lady. I'm here to take your soul, for you have been chosen for an important 'second occasion'.»

Well, I was really confused by then. What does that mean, that I had been chosen for a second occasion?

 _I'm dead and I'm supposed to stay so. F-cking subconscious, don't joke on me like this, it's not funny!_

«I see, you already accepted death so you can't- no, you don't _want_ to hold on fake hopes. Am I right?»

She was, truly and definitely so. Granny always said I did not have much willpower and because of that I tended to accept what fate threw to me without fighting much – and that's probably why my last relationship ended, but this's another story.

However, I've been always acting like that because it was easier for me to go on. That's all.

The stranger sighed something between the lines of 'of all people', but quickly returned to her serious self before speaking again.

«I'll explain one time only, so listen carefully. I'm someone who can speak to and see ghost of all types: humans, sacred spirits, elemental spirits... well, you got the idea. And now I'm here to guide your soul to your new life, believe it or not. You will face many kind of situation and you will have to find a way out on your own, or maybe with some help too.»

 _Holy cow, is this for real then...? I'm going to live again? It... it's just... I can't...!_

«If you say it's not possible, then it will be. Everything depends on how you face it, child.» the stranger said with a warm tone that made me blush a little. For just a second, it reminded me my own mother and her kind attitude.

 _...God, I'm already missing her now. Fuck this._

I sensed her smiling after that, but maybe it was just my imagination. «Well, are you ready to accept your new fate, young lady?»

I nodded weakly, somewhere between being excited and scared as hell. After that, I felt something grabbing my neck and gently pull me back.

 _...What. This is not what I think it is, right?_

* * *

There was a bright light that made me close instantly my eyes: did they want to blind me or something?!

 _Shit, if this is my second life I want to live it at its fullness and, with all the respect, I do not think that being down on one sense will grant me that._

I found myself pouting, but something drew my attention: another voice, completely different by the one that lastly spoke to me, with a happy tone. «It's a girl! Congratulations, Mrs. Asakura!»

...wait.

Waitwait _waitWAIT_.

 ** _ASAKURA_**?

 _The same Asakura family with Yoh and Hao and Mikihisa and Yohmei and- are we talking about THAT Asakura family from Shaman King?! Oh God, if it is I'm going to faint for sure._

 _But... no, who am I kidding. It's just not possible, is it? Even though that mysterious lady said she could see and talk to ghosts, I can't have ended in a manga, right?_

 _Still... I should be dead, but I'm indeed alive – and that should be impossible too. So... maybe that's not so impossible either...? I might be in a sort of parallel universe in which the world I originally belonged to is imaginary. Who am I to tell, after all?_

"I forgot to tell. Brace yourself, young lady, for you shall believe the unbelievable. But I see you've already reached the conclusion." _Her_ voice echoed in my mind.

 _Hey, mystery lady! Am I really in Izumo or somewhere in Japan?_

"Indeed, and you're also the first daughter of Mikihisa and Keiko Asakura. I suppose you already know them."

Yeah, well. Shaman King has been quite the obsession for me, even if the anime is almost completely disappointing and different from the manga. When I found out I was like "oh gosh, what the heck! It was not like this before, what am I reading?!" and I'm not even sure I remember everything about the plot.

...thinking about this, does it mean I'm some kind of an oracle? I still got the main occurrences, so maybe I could help avoiding some not very pleasant events – like little Manta being opened like a guinea pig by the psycho-necromancer.

LE GASP.

I was already wondering how much I could do to help, but something hit me then.

 _Who are you, by the way? Are you a Patch or someone liked with them? Or maybe you're one of the future Hao's followers? Or an Asakura too! Please tell me!_

The stranger sighed, a hind of amusement in his tone. "Aren't you a bit eager now? You'll see when the time comes."

Not satisfied with that kind of answer, I extremely pouted – action that caused some giggles to my new parents, especially my mother, which by the way was holding me by then.

"See, they're already at your feet and you can't even be called a woman."

 _Shut up, whatever! Just tell me your name then, I'm too curious._

There was a long silence before I heard a sigh. "Fine, if that's all I need to keep you calm. You can call me Asano and yes, I'm a member of the Asakuras... in a way."

 _So I was right, cool! Nice to meet you then, my name's... my... name... ugh..._

 _Why couldn't I remember it? For f-ck's sake, it's my own name!_

Asano laughed lightly, probably sensing my annoyance. "Don't sweat it, we will meet again and you'll tell me your name. Until then..."

I felt her presence disappear, so I was able to fully dedicate my attention to the 'present'.

 _Sooooo, let's sum up one time for all._

I was a baby again, I had been revived by some mysterious being that sent Asano to inform me about my new life and I was in the universe of what in my original world was a mere product of imagination.

Last but not least, I was the first born of the Asakura family and soon – I hoped, at least – the big sis of the two reincarnations of the great onmyoji Asakura Hao.

 _I'm_ _ **so**_ _going to love this._

«See? She likes you, Mikihisa.» Keiko said as I was – probably – smiling and giggling like an idiot.

They kind of misunderstood, but I really liked them too in any case (well, maybe not for the fact that they almost killed their son; even if he would have become really dangerous I didn't think he totally deserved that).

«I bet she will become beautiful like her mother.» Mikihisa said, looking tenderly at me before kissing his wife on the temple.

 _Aaaw, aren't they sweet?_ I giggled again, shaking my tiny arms up and down – wasn't I the most cute thing ever?

'kay, 'kay, just kidding.

 _Well, let's see what happens from now on._

And with that thought, I braced myself for the new life.


	2. Chapter 02: I will be a shaman!

**Hello there!**

 **I'm already back with chapter two since in the first one doesn't happen anything special (not that in this one there are epic battles or stuff, but at least there are other characters).**

 **Just to clarify: we're now fourteen years or so before the tournament and Karura is five years old, but since she's "smarter" than the other children she just skipped an year and is now in the first grade of elementary school, which normally begins at six (that's only because she's already learned most of stuff in her previous life and still remembers them, not actually because she's a genious or something).**

 **There will be a few references about other anime/manga here since Karura was rather fond of popular shonen manga such as Bleach or FMA, so expect her to quote and/or think about them from now on.**

 **Last but not least, thanks to everyone who reads, reviews or favourites/follows the story!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

Good morning, everyone!

My actual name's Asakura Karura, five years old and apprentice shaman. After dying in what I think it's a parallel world of this one, I'm not sure myself, I've been reborn in Japan (Izumo prefecture, precisely) in a family whose occupation is shamanic stuff since some centuries ago.

The fact is, I already know what will happen in the future and I want to help my family. To do that, I decided to train myself and participate to the Shaman Fight that would be held in... fourteen-fifteen years, if I was not wrong.

Which was a lovely project, hadn't I be a total failure with the onmyoji technique.

«No, not like that! You need to focus more if you want to create a shikigami!»

Ah, did I mention that the old demon offered to help me?

Curse me and when I let the thought slip during some evenings ago: we were all five - Yohmei, Kino, Keiko, Mikihisa and me - in the same room, eating like a family was supposed to. It was something I didn't recall from the manga, but I couldn't complain since it was a peaceful and lovely atmosphere (something I knew that in a few years would totally disappear from this house and its occupants - because of my future little brother).

By the way, it was then that Yohmei offered to help. And here begun my personal hell.

Back to the present, I pouted at the old man and glared at the small stone before me: I shouldn't really be upset since I was just an apprentice, but still... I didn't like to wait, due to my lack of patience or whatsoever that helps you reach your goals.

After a few more tries, I gave up and sat on a large rock near the river. The place was apparently the same where Yoh would train too, so I was kind of happy that I'd have the opportunity to experience my future brother's same agony.

( _Please, notice the sarcasm and do not think of me as a masochist._

 _..._

 _On a second thought scratch that, maybe I am - but just a REALLY tiny bit. It's not_ _pathological._

 _Situation cleared, back to the story_ )

«Why, in the Heavens' name, can't I do it?» I mumbled, staring at the flood just two feet away from me. That's when I felt a small pat on my shoulder and turned a bit to face my grandfather. «How does it work, really?»

Yohmei sat beside me, his pipe still in hand. «You have to melt with the nature around you and feel its energy, then put that same energy into the leaves or stones and give life to them.»

Well... it that's the way shamans put this, no doubt Hao ended up having a God-complex of some sorts - and the fact that shamans were actually more powerful than normal humans might have added fuel to the fire too (no pun intended, I swear).

Still, it was a bit too harsh just wanting to kill them all because of their nasty nature. Killing people is one of the two most useless jobs, after all: people die one way or another, so why bothering?

«Maybe I'm just no-good. Maybe I should give up and chose a different carrier...» I sighed, head resting on my hand.

«Like what?»

I looked at the man, who was intensely staring at my face, curiously and a little mocking in my opinion. I knooow I'm going to get hit soon...

«Err... Writing novels and mangas...?»

 ** _SBAM_** _!_

«OW- It _hurts_!» I cried, holding my head where the old man's blow landed. Why was he so f-ucking rough?! I was just a five years old, for Christ sake!

Yohmei _hmph_ -ed and looked at the river. «One day the world will be different from now and those who can see ghost will be lesser and lesser. For you, who has this special gift, it should be the most important thing to improve your skills and try to continue the Asakura's lineage.»

Well, the last part threw me off more than just 'a little'.

 _I'm not going to get married, old man. It's against my principles,_ I thought angrily, successfully managing to not growl at him. No way I was being put into a combined engagement like Yoh and Anna, nooo waaay (even though I suspected that my relatives had already been looking for a husband for me).

I was screwed, since Keiko, Yohmei and Kino would love the idea of me married to a fair man and with children of my own, while probably Mikihisa wouldn't give a damn about it. _The man will be too much into his shamanic-hermit things to care about what happens to me anyway._

I shivered a bit, however I managed to maintain the little composure I had left and decided that I did not want to know where that talk would lead. Not now, at least.

«... I think it's time to go back to my training.» I mumbled, getting back to my feet just as Yohmei chuckled and said something like 'being too young for that'.

Well, wasn't he being a Captain Obvious?

* * *

After another long day of school – though I might as well ignore everything and just sleep during classes, since somehow _most_ of my knowledge of school subjects is still there; however, Japanese history was kind of interesting and I didn't really have nothing better to do anyway – and training, all my mind could focus on was taking a shower and a long, relaxing bath in the onsen.

I didn't even care if I passed out for overheating, I was just too tired.

And I almost fell asleep, hadn't it been for Keiko's voice calling for me. «Karura, are you still in there?»

«Yeeeah.» I said in a loud tone, so she would hear me well. I didn't care to faint, but if I died before anything important happened... well, that would be really unpleasant.

 _So much for caring about worrying family._

After a few more minutes I decided to get out and dressed before catching a cold or something (that was the last thing I wanted considering what I had to do, thank you very much) and after that I brought myself to my room before collapsing on the bed.

I was so tired that I fell asleep on the spot.

.

Then I saw a dream. I didn't remember everything in detail, still all that red was the main focus of my attention: everything was embraced in that color, as if a blaze had engulfed the entire landscape. Voices, distant voices were heard together with the sound of the fire - they were laughing, _laughing_ , and that made me angry, but also sad and hurt for some unknown reasons.

I closed my eyes and for less than a second my mind flashed the image of a child.

When I re-opened them, the scenery had changed: there was a small river, it was a little earlier than dawn since the sky's color was becoming lighter and lighter, and I was strolling along the riverside. I took a deep breath and in that moment a strong scent made me cringe internally.

It was like... iron and water - well that's because I was near a damned river maybe, but the thing was... why the iron stench?

Trying to not to fall in the waves I reached the point from where said scent came, but all I saw were corpses, broken weapons and blood - very, very, very much of it. I fought the urge to puke as I heard something else right after.

 _"... e_ _n_ ** _d_** _... n_ ** _o_** _t..._ _f_ _ri **e**_ _n_ _d **s**... m **y**... r_ _e_ _v **e**_ _n_ _g **e**... _**_f_** _i_ _g_ _h_ ** _t_** _... d **e** m_ _o_ _n_ _s_ _... **h**_ _a_ _t_ _e_ _... k_ _il_ ** _l_** _..._ _h_ _u **m**_ _a_ _n..."_

Words came into my mind as I watched the crimson pools spreading and staining the crystal-clear waters and I instinctively looked at a particular point of the riverside: there I found a small lantern with a dragon-shaped decoration hung on a long piece of wood. It looked kind of familiar but I didn't have the occasion to ask - not even myself - about it.

.

Someone called out for me in that moment.

«Wake up, my dear! Dinner is served, you should move if you want to find some- uh, what's with that look?»

I just glared at Mikihisa for having waken me up like that and during a... well, not pleasurable dream, but still a dream that I remembered.

«You just interrupted a nice dream.» I lied only to make him feel bad about it as I crawled out of my futon - and somehow I was successful too: maybe he was not as distant as I thought?

But whatever: someone should give him the cold shoulder every now and then, right?

While I followed the man down the corridor to the lunchroom where probably my other relatives were already, I got lost in thoughts: what's wrong with fathers that didn't act like they were supposed to? I mean, Mikihisa is just an example, but was not the only one.

Just look at that Van Hohenheim guy from Fullmetal Alchemist: he acted like a bastard all the time too, even if he deeply loved his family.

What the f-ck? Can't they be cool and be good fatherly figures at the same time? _Losers_.

«Karura, are you okay?» someone asked as Mikihisa and I entered the room. It was probably Keiko, knowing how the demon just did not care about this kind of things. «You look pale, do you need to rest?»

«I'm just tired, after dinner I'll go straight to bed, hopefully not having to wake up until morning.» I said, glaring one last time to the man with long, brown hair who looked back at me with a sheepish smile.

We all sat at the table and said our prayers to the deities for the food, then we started eating in silence. _Awkward moments are beginning, yay_.

* * *

«So, um... How was school today, Karura?» Mikihisa asked out of nowhere at a certain point and soon Keiko echoed his words a little more enthusiastically. I raised an eyebrow at the question: what was the point in asking such a question? It wasn't like they didn't know that I did practically nothing at school - exception made for Japan history.

 _...they're not trying to ease the mood before telling something more important, are they? Oh Godness, please don't tell me they've done what I think they've done._

Then Kino just spoke. «There's no point in hesitating, Mikihisa, Keiko. Just tell her.»

I put my bowl of rice and the chopsticks down, as I eyed my parents carefully. «Tell me _what_.»

 _Well, now the air is tense as hell._ And in a moment I'd just know why, exactly.

«In a few weeks you'll meet your fiancée.»

Silence.

... _My fiancée, huh? Seriously?_

«...Karura?»

 _So they really hooked me up with a guy that I don't even know._

«Are you okay?»

 _What if I don't like him? What if he doesn't like me? What if his parents are a pain in the-_

A hundred questions flowed to my mind in that moment while my relatives continued to speak among themselves.

I suddenly felt a strange sensation raising inside my body. _Uh, what's this? It happened before, in my past life..._

«I told you, we should have waited a little more. She's too young.»

 _Right, it was that time, when that jackass tried to screw with me by blaming_ ** _me_** _for something - a minor crime -_ ** _he_** _did._ _Still, what was the name...?_

«Who. Just _who_.» My mind and my body apparently acted completely on their own for a moment as I spoke without even realizing.

 _Ah right, maybe I know..._

«Who is he? Well-»

I grinned almost sadistically, not even listening to an embarrassed Keiko. « _Who's going to pay for this_?»

 ** _Violent instincts_**.

* * *

 **Karura definitely didn't take the marriage plan good, did she?** **And can any of you tell where the dream and the words come from?**

 **Please tell me what you think about it!**


	3. Chapter 03: Meeting the man

**Another chapter, yay~**

 **Even if someone may kill me or something after this...**

 **(it will not end here anyway)**

 **Again, thanks to everyone who reads, reviews or favourites/follows the story!**

 **Enjoy~**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

The Asakuras didn't definitely know how to take a joke.

No, seriously. After my little show during evening meal and seeing my oh-so-pissed-off expression, the four of them freaked out so much it was almost laughable: Mikihisa stepped in an instant between me and Keiko, as if he feared I would attack her (and so I had a name for the one behind the choice of my fiancée), while Kino and Yohmei were tense as hell and ready to call their spirits.

 _What the hell? I wasn't THAT scary, was I...? Did they see some demon or something?_

My mood was sour and irritable since then, at least until a certain voice answered that same question that was haunting my mind.

"Well, child. Let's say that anyone would have run away with the dangerous vibes you were emitting."

 _Asano!_ I called happily in my mind, forgetting momentarily about my anger and earning a light chuckle from her. I pouted at that. _Come on, I'm not able to scare people like them nor anyone by nature. That and I'm still a child, you know? There's nothing a powerless five years old could do._

There was a brief silence before her response came.

"Age does not matter in this cases. Even a new born could destroy easily someone if they had the power." Asano sighed to herself, like she was remembering or thinking about something - _and I'm almost sure I know what it is_. "And don't underestimate yourself, little one. You're definitely not powerless, you just lack the right motivation. That and... shikigamis are really not your thing."

I blinked once.

Twice.

At the third blink I realized something.

 _...not... my thing? Wait a second. Does this mean I trained for nothing until now?_

"I wouldn't use those words, but basically yes. Even though it helped you to gain some control over your spiritual energy." She said diplomatically, but I unfortunately knew better.

 _I'm going to kill Yohmei. Useless old man._

A sound of clapping hands was heard and I found myself staring in a pair of hazel eyes: they held a certain severity that made me not wanting to mess with her. Definitely not. "Now, now, how could he know? Maybe you'd better go find yourself a spirit to make a contract with."

 _Contract as in... with a demon? Like having infinite power in exchange for control over my body or my soul, so the demon can cook it as he/she please?_

So maybe I watched Kuroshitsuji a bit too much: to say that I reached the point of imagining Sebastian cutting down vegetables and throw them in a big pot with Ciel and- _nooope, definitely not keeping this line of thoughts_.

("Miss, may I take your order?"

"Yes, a Special Phantomhive Soup, please."

I SAID NO, STUPID IMAGINATION!)

"Jokes aside, child, spirits and demons are really similar in these cases, so who knows? But, you need definitely a partner to do what you came here to do. And a strong one, I may add."

Asano's presence vanished from my mind as I thought about her choice of words. The first time we met, around five years ago, she said I was going to be born into a new life, but never said anything about "something I had to do".

 _So I was not reborn here for nothing_. I mused. It made kind of sense since in the original storyline Karura Asakura didn't exist, from what I remembered: my entire life was a plus, something completely knew in this world. _And I may really also change the course of events, since I'm here_.

The silly thought I had years ago, almost forgotten because of my busy life, came back stronger than ever: I was going to help my brothers and their friends (because I don't care what he says, even Hao _has_ friends - or at least people he cares about, like Opacho; if not, I'm going to find him some and fuck everything). I'll protect them.

 _Oh, and I'm going to kick someone's ass just because._

I grinned once again sadistically, maybe even more than before, imagining a certain blonde four-eyes who gave me the worst impression _ever_ since I read the manga. He was so going to live a Hell once he met me.

* * *

Now I knew staring was definitely not polite, but nobody ever said anything about _glaring_ , right?

I smirked in triumph as the little boy in front of me gave out a small cry of distress, successfully obtaining all the attention from his parents, Mikihisa and Keiko - who, by the way, was beginning to show a slight... plumpness around her waist. That was a sign that I didn't had to wait too much longer until my baby brothers are born! Yay!

 _... no wait. Wait a second._

While that was undoubtedly a good thing that Hao and Yoh would soon be born, it also meant the Spirit of Fire would appear and save the former from friggin' murder! And I couldn't even manage to create shikigamis, not to talk about perform an Over Soul.

«... _shit_.» I cursed in my former mother language (which is, by the way, Italian; we're also really creative when it comes to swearing and cursing, but let's keep this story for another moment).

«Karura?» That was Keiko's voice. I looked up and saw a pair of worried eyes staring directly in my own. «Are you not feeling well?» _What...?_ «You're making a face.»

Oh, really now? My dark orbs went to the other four faces in the room, only to find expressions similar to Keiko's one. Better say, almost similar. In our guests' eyes there was a light worry (probably because I was supposed to be their son's wife in the future, and who wants a mad-woman in their family?) but also curiosity and expectations, as if... they knew that I was hiding _something_ and what _that_ was. It made me uncomfortable.

The little boy, however, seemed to have calmed down after all my glaring and was looking at me with a little more confidence.

«I'm just... tired. And a bit surprised.» I blurted out before even realizing. «I thought he was going to be older than me and much bigger, but he looks so skinny and fragile.»

 _F-CK MY LACK OF A BRAIN-MOUTH FILTER_. I internally snapped at myself. I wasn't supposed to say that, probably: it sounded almost (definitely) an insult to the boy's-slash-my supposed fiancée's strength. An unforgivable mistake (or not) on my side.

Even though, if I offended those three maybe they'll give up the arrangement and I'll be free of doing whatever I wanted to do with my love life.

To my honest astonishment, however, the couple plus son didn't look as offended as I supposed. They were more like... amused? _What?_

The woman was the first one to speak up. «Well, maybe Yoichi should give a demonstration of his shamanic ability so no one will have doubts, right?»

It made sense, if he demonstrated his true value - and this was at acceptable level - not even Yohmei would be able to cancel the betrothal. But that would definitely not be on my advantage. I was f-cked, not literally but still... and it wasn't even the end of it.

«What about a sparring match?» She continued, clapping her hands happily. «I bet Yoichi, albeit strong, wouldn't stand a chance against the young heiress of the Asakuras!»

 _Well, now I'm deeply screwed._

Because of course I couldn't step out of this.

* * *

And so, thanks to a well dressed in Japanese styled clothes bitch, I was enlisted for a friendly fight with my fiancée.

Oh.

The.

Joy.

I won't lie and tell I wasn't scared, because I was as hell: I could merely be called a shaman - I could see and talk to spirits, maybe order them a bit, but it ended with that. I was not equipped for combat, not without a medium, a spirit and an Over Soul to fight with. We - Asakuras and Mitamashis together - moved outside the living room to the vast courtyard that surrounded the residence.

 _Well, it has been fun while it lasted_. I could imagine the bitch laughing hard after her son handed my ass back to me after wiping the floor with it, since I had this feeling that she didn't like me already - feeling that was reciprocated - and probably because of the previous insult of her precious son. I mean okay, my bad, but calm down now, woman! I had not killed him or anything!

«Are you both okay?» Mikihisa, who offered to be the referee, asked Yoichi and me, eyeing either of us for a second. The boy nodded a bit insecure, while I merely sighed. «Then, ready... FIGHT!»

I had more or less a second to evade the first attack, come as a storm of light orbs that exploded at touch. ... _Scaaary_.

My eyes locked with Yoichi's and I found myself shivering a bit at the look in his green pools: was he even the same little boy from before? It was like the idea of fighting wiped away the shyness. That was so not the same scared cat I thought he was.

As these thoughts crossed my mind, my body kept dodging the blows thrown my way - at least I was good at P.E. in this life, something in that moment I was so grateful for.

 _I hope my stamina will be enough_.

* * *

«Asakura-san, may I ask you why your daughter keeps evading and doesn't attack?» the man, Yoichi's father, asked as he watched the spar from the outer corridor. He could practically feel Shiho - his wife - laughing inside her mind at the child's display of inability to fight.

Karura might come from a high-ranked shamanic lineage, but from what he could sense her heritage was not as strong as her mother's: she had mature eyes, too much to be the eyes of a child, but she was not particularly talented. Maybe they had been too impulsive in accepting the betrothal just because of the Asakura's name. The little girl was also cute and he could tell she was also kind hearted (maybe a bit eccentric too) by her aura, however that did not count.

«To be honest, she...» Mikihisa began to say before an explosion, followed by an high pitched scream, filled the air. They both snapped their heads to the direction the rumor came from, only to see a cloud of smoke and the frame of a small body laying on the ground.

It didn't take a second: Keiko jumped off the corridor and approached the fighting figures; once there, she let out a worried scream. «Karura! Oh no, please answer me! Karura! _Karura_!»

The dark haired woman was cradling her daughter - skin covered in burns and bruises - in her shaking arms, and kept calling her by name with fear in her voice.

In the meantime, the other child looked scared by what he had just done: he actually hit his adversary, but that was not what worried him. The fact that she kept evading his attacks irritated him to no end, which made him pissed and pissed off to no end. And that sent him right away to his "serious mode".

Yoichi attacked full-power. He didn't mean to, but he did.

And Karura was hit. Hard.

«I-I didn't... I d-didn't want to...!» he cried, his weapon sliding out of his grasp as he brought the tiny hands to his face. Tears already pooling in his eyes, he almost didn't realize that his mother was hugging him and whispering soothing words at his ear. «Please trust me! I didn't want to.. to harm her! I thought s-she was going to dodge that too!»

Yohmei and Kino arrived in that moment to find out what the commotion was: what they were not imagining to see was their daughter's desperate, crying face as she hugged tightly a burned body, her husband at her side with a sorrowful expression on his face and watery eyes.

The Mitamashi were reassuring their first born, who was crying just like Keiko.

They found out, a moment later, that Karura was in a coma.

Almost killed by accident during a spar.

* * *

 **I honestly love my OCs, I really do.**

 **But it's fun to mess up their life after all.**

 **Please review**


	4. Chapter 04: Fade to life -again-

**Hi there again!**

 **Here's a new chapter and I must say I took a lot of freedom about it's contents. I don't really know how Hell works in Shaman King, so I had to use lost and lots of imagination (please bear with me for this one).**

 **(for the ones who wondered about who the spirit named Asano was, here you'll have your answer!)**

 **Once again, thanks to everyone who reads, reviews or favourites/follows the story!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes. (I'm not sure if I should put M instead since I'm not used to the rating here - please tell me if you think I should change that!)**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

«Do you mind telling me, dear child, how did you manage to get in the depths of hell at five years old?»

I rolled my eyes, arms crossed at my chest, and sighed. Okay, I'll have to work on the stamina too someday: I didn't take in account the fact that the boy was stronger - _far_ stronger, may I add - than me and ended up underestimating the range of his blows. Long story short, I was hit badly in the head by one of those ball-shaped lights, only to find out that that was a technique to cast your spirit away, not to really kill you off.

(the fact that a body will die if a spirit isn't put back in it is a completely different matter)

«It was an accident.»

Asano - who now appeared as a young blonde woman with a plain, pastel-colored kimono; it was kind of familiar and I had this sensation that I _should have known_ where exactly I saw it... - made a clicking sound with the tongue. «And may I ask how do you plan to make up for this? I'd like to remind you that you were not supposed to die there.»

«I was not supposed to _exist_ there to begin with.» I retorted, huffing at her. «My entire being was just an insert and I was a normal human before! _A. f-cking. normal. human_. What the hell do you expect me to do against an opponent that's stronger than I am?! And I didn't even ask for a fiancée anyway! Who needs that in her life! Do you hear me, _Bakakura_?! I DON'T WANT TO BE MARRIED OFF, YOU BASTARDS!»

Well, I snapped in the end. I didn't really mean to do that to Asano since she hadn't done anything bad to me, but can you blame me? I died again, for the goddamned second time. _If that's not frustrating, then I don't know what it is_.

Surprisingly enough, the woman kept silent during my whole ranting. «Feeling better now?»

«...Yes, thanks. And sorry.» I said in response, earning a deep sigh.

«Never mind that, now let's find a way to bring you back there before your parents organize your funeral.»

I shivered at the thought of my body being buried or burned to ashes: if I was to make it and wake up, then I'd find myself in a... rather troublesome situation - and I didn't want to die for the third time, thank you very much.

With these happy thoughts (please notice the sarcasm once again), I followed after the woman along a steep path.

There was no need to ask where I was since it was painfully clear in my eyes and ears: the scenery was that of a mountain track, surrounded by reddish rocks and soil; sometimes, with the corner of my eyes, I spotted monstrous figures lurking in the darkness of cavities here and there. That alone made me walk faster and closer to Asano - I didn't know if she would be able to help in a combat, but I felt far safer like that.

We walked and walked, and walked - and I was grateful that as a spirit I couldn't feel the hurt at my feet that would normally began to sting painfully - in that strange land of the Land of Yomi and crossed paths a few times with other inhabitants, which I must say were really kind and peaceful to be demons or something like that. Talkative too, if you were patient enough.

 _Spirits are sociable after all_.

«We're here, child. Step forward and behave yourself.» Asano said as she stopped before a... giant... red... thing...

«SWEET HELL, WHAT THE F-CK IS THIS?» I screamed at the top of my lungs, facing the worst nightmare of people, dead and alive all alike: King Enma, ruler of hell, in all his scary... largeness? No, seriously. Even as a demon he's awfully BIG. _What did he eat when he was a child?_

As I kept staring wide eyes and mouth at the Great King, Asano face-palmed in the background.

«Watch your tongue, human! State the reasons you're here for or scram, I don't have time to deal with little idiots here!» he spat angrily, a vein bumping on his - very, very big - temple. Before words (profanities) could fly out of my mouth, Asano quickly intervened.

«Great King Enma, this child was not supposed to die today. I plead you to allow her to go back to her body.»

She spoke gently and fluidly, her voice soothing and respectful. The ruler looked like the was thinking the same as he slowly calmed down and his expression relaxed - not much, but was still less intimidating, which was a very good thing. I cleared my throat, successfully gaining his full attention.

«I, uh, deeply apologize for my earlier reaction, oh Great King. I was just... scared to see someone this... _majestic_.» Asano's relaxed sigh was heard faintly; I bet she was worried I'd say something more like 'big', 'huge' or anything more insulting. «Hence I beg for your forgiveness, as I was utterly surprised as I saw you earlier...» I said politely, ending it all with a deep bow towards him.

Asano's words and my new attitude definitely did the trick: Enma ceased to emanate that hostile aura after this; I could tell that he was rather pleased with everything now - if you don't count the fact that two spirits are somehow disturbing him and his important matters.

The demon straightened up. «Very well. I'll listen to what you have to say. For what reason I should let you regain your life?»

I blinked. _What?_

«You certainly didn't think that you only had to apologize and you'll be revived, did you?» he asked half mockingly.

 _That asshole!_ I growled under my breath and locked eyes with him: this was a challenge _I_ had to win alone.

* * *

Time passed and still the daughter of Keiko and Mikihisa didn't give any hints of waking up. Little Yoichi had calmed himself down after seeing that his young fiancée was asleep.

To be honest, Karura was not _simply_ asleep: she was in a deep comatose state, with vital functions at the minimum. The only thing that kept her breathing was the spiritual energy that Yohmei and Kino were giving her through a strange technique.

No one could understand what allowed her to stay alive, even barely, before the oldest Asakura's intervention: it was like her spirit was taken forcefully away and her body completely frozen.

«A-Asakura-san will be okay, right?» the little child asked her mother, voice still shaking a bit. Neither Keiko nor Mikihisa, nor the grandparents, blamed him for what happened - something he was so, so much grateful for. Everyone understood from the situation and his mental state that it was an honest accident.

Hanemasa flashed a reassuring smile to his son. «She'll be fine, I... have this feeling she will.»

«Intuition, my dear?» his wife asked, suddenly fully conscious of the words he just spoke. Shiho had learnt to trust her husband: those feelings had saved their lives various times in the past, after all.

When the man simply nodded before going back to cuddle the child on his lap, the fair haired woman looked boredly at the wall clock in the guest room: two hours have passed; and since it was already late in the day, the Asakuras had offered them to stay for the night. Offer that was gladly accepted.

"If the night goes well, she might as well wake up."

With that hopeful thought, Hanemasa advised his family to prepare for bed.

* * *

«What about "I'm going to be a good girl and make the world a better place"? Doesn't it sound good enough?!»

Enma snorted almost amusedly. «Mmh... Not really, no.»

«ARGH!»

It was official: I was going to lose my mind because of a fucking big infernal sh-thead _._

 _I say, f-ck your reasons, I'm going to get revived on my own!_ And then Asano's voice in my mind - I suspect that was my conscience trying to guide me - kept repeating that it was not the solution, that I needed to keep calm and use my brain. _As if. One day he'll get his ass handed to him by me, that asshole. If I just had a spirit I could-_

Wait.

Waaait a second, wasn't Enma one of the Guardians of the Spirits of Natures? The one of the Earth, if I remembered correctly? And I was so lucky to have been guided here, avoiding all the dangers and traps of the Otherworld.

Thinking back to the plot, Hao stole one of the Five Spirits of Nature - the Spirit of Fire - from the Patch Tribe to use it in the last tournament, give and take five centuries ago; after that, the Patch hid the other four in various depths of hell and put the Great Kings to guard them.

And if I remembered well they would be brought back to the World of the Living by Sati and her squad and then given to the Elemental Warriors, or what are they called. So, basically their fate was to come back anyway... what if I managed to bring one back a bit earlier?

 _If I have an Elemental Spirit as my partner, then I'll be able to defend myself and the ones I care, I won't be a useless nuisance. Maybe I could take on Hao too, even if only for a few seconds. It would help, even if it's just a few seconds..._

I frowned, mentally slapping myself.

 _No, that would be a suicidal idea. I'd need a fearful amount of furyoku and control to use one of them, they're not called Elemental spirits for nothing: I'd be crushed before even saying 'A' if I tried to use them._

But still I had a piece of information that I could use against the royal f-cker in front of me.

«Oh, Great King of Hell. What if I say...» I began once again, my voice a bit shaking but strangely serious - more than I wanted too, but maybe that was a good thing. «...that I'm going to bring the Spirit of Fire back to the place where it belongs?»

 _Oho, aha! Bull's eye!_

The expression on his - and Asano's - face was so priceless that I almost gave up to laughing.

I resisted the urge, though.

Enma didn't.

«Bwaahahah! A pipsqueak like you, defeating Hao Asakura and bringing the Spirit of Fire back?! Don't make me laugh, human!» he shouted, howling with laughter all along. I stood my ground and after a while he stopped, composing himself once again. «You can't be serious, child. Nobody could stop that monster from doing whatever he pleases!»

Something snapped inside of me after that phrase. _Did he... Has he just called my little brother 'monster'...?_

That was it, the reason why the first Hao Asakura snapped and became who he was in our present: stupid prejudice, fear, envy... the darkness of human thoughts and, apparently, demons' ones too. I understood that Enma and Hao might have had issues running between them, I may even understand if the Hell King held some kind of grudge against him, but this didn't give him the right to call someone _monster_.

 _He doesn't know a single thing about him_.

Not that _I_ know all that much, but I still remember what he went through in his first life - seeing his mother being burned alive, him being treated as an outcast, losing his first friend due to a deserved revenge; then living a life to help people only to see them turn their back to him and bad-mouthing him.

 _That's not fair. That's not how it should have been._

And Enma just sat there, all highty and mighty, calling him names. _Don't you dare. You don't know a thing._ _ **Don't judge him**_ _._

Then, it happened.

"Do you want my power? Do you have enough emotions to feed me, young lady~?"

A silky, female voice suddenly asked inside my head.

In that precise instant I felt a strange surge of energy starting to pool up inside of me - Enma and Asano should have sensed it too since they fell completely silent (Asano already was, but still) -: it was like my insides were burning and burning, like I had a ferocious beast in me, and the sensation was... simply amazing!

 _I want power, I want power to be strong... stronger than them all_. I answered with no doubts, earning a chuckle from the thing that just spoke to me.

( _Maybe I should also consider taking a few visit from a psychologist with all these voices I hear, it would be a wonderful conversation._

"So what's your problem, Miss Asakura?"

"Oh, nothing really. I'm just a girl who was reincarnated from another world where this reality is mere fiction. And I have at least two voices inside my head, which I talk to: one is the one who brought me here and the other is offering me a pact to acquire strength."

"..."

 _Yes, a wonderful conversation_. But back to the present.)

"Oh, are you sure? Interesting~" The thing mused amusedly. "Well then, I shall accept you as my master. As long as you feel like to use that strength to crush those fools who stand in your way, I'll lend you my strength. You just have to call for me whenever you want~"

« _Don't you_ dare _call my little brother that, you infernal brain-dead monkey._ » I hissed, showing my teeth mendaciously, barely recognizing my own voice. It was a strange sensation, as if there was something else controlling me in that moment, but well... if that could help me escape this situation, then it would be deeply welcomed!

I saw the King wince in anger as I smirked tauntingly. «Well, if you're done with your _bullshit_ I'll take my leave. Asano-san, thank you for everything up until now!»

The woman uncertainly waved her right hand at me (I have the suspect she didn't expect the previous reaction from me at all) as I smiled at her. Then...

« **HOW DARE YOU, PATHETIC HUMAN**!» Enma's shout was heard in the entire area, I'm sure of it, but I couldn't give more fucks. The Hell King prepared to launch his attack as I lifted a hand straight to his face, still smiling.

«Surrender to me.» I mumbled, feeling the power that surged in me earlier concentrate in my hand. Then I shouted. «Grant me your power, Spirit!»

"It will be my pleasure~" She softly said to my mind. "And remember, my dear master. My name is..."

* * *

That day the sound of a huge explosions echoed in the whole Hell, making rocks and walls alike trembling due to the shock. A thick cloud of smoke and dust filled the atmosphere around the Great King's lair and it took several minutes to make it thin away.

When Enma was once again able to see in front of him, he only found an empty space and a deep crater in the ground.

He sighed irritated to no end. «Do you mind telling me who that child was now, Asanoha Douji?»

"Asano", who was still there, repaired behind a large boulder, slowly stepped out from her hiding point. A gentle, yet troubled, smile ghosted over her lips. «She's someone who might help my son, she was called here for that purpose.»

«She's a threat! She just took a Prisoner of Hell from its imprisonment!»

Prisoners of Hell were strong souls, entities confined it the Otherworld due to the unspeakable sins they committed in life and death; and even if they were not as powerful as the four kings or the kami-class spirits, they were simply on an higher level among the Seirei class. Similar to demonic spirits with malicious, deceitful nature, they only waited for a suitable "companion" to make it back to the World of Living.

An insanely strong desire to come back to life, a strong reserve of power to open the way and (preferably) a body awaiting for them - that was all they need to realize their wish, to reincarnate and come back to life. Enma had to admit that the little girl had them all, even in if she didn't realized herself.

The spirit she took helped her to... distract him and channeling the power in the right way, nothing more. And that was the most dangerous thing.

The woman shook her head from side to side, her golden bangs fluttering at each movement, ignoring the guardian's last sentence. «That spirit chose her, but I have faith that she'll be able to _tame_ it.»

«A high-ranked spirit like that tamed by a mortal?! That's pure nonsense!» Enma roared again indignantly.

Asanoha mumbled something to herself before speaking out loud. «In any case, you can't do anything now that they got away.»

At the correction, the Hell King growled loudly and stepped away, probably to notify the other Kings of the fact in detail. The blonde sighed, looking longingly at the infinite dark sky above her.

Karura's situation... it was just like a gamble, a very dangerous one, but Asanoha liked to think about positively: if the little girl managed to control herself and her newly acquired spirit, to not give in to said spirit temptations, then she would be able to seize a power that would definitely help her in the future.

All she could do was hoping it all went in the right way.


	5. Chapter 05: Acceptance is the key

**Hi there again!**

 **Must say, I'm updating faster than I myself expected... but whatever!**

 **New chapter, enjoy!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes. (I'm not sure if I should put M instead since I'm not used to the rating here - please tell me if you think I should change that!)**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

What happened then, well... it was like a blur.

I came back to life with my awesome companion, waking up with the oh-so-wonderful sight of Yohmei's shocked face first, only to be nearly sent to the Otherworld again by Keiko's bear-hug, which I received the exact moment I stepped in the living room where everyone was waiting. And with everyone, I mean the Asakuras and the Tamashimi trio - speaking of them, little Yoichi nearly gave into tears when he saw me alive and well doing.

 _Okay, maybe he's not so bad after all..._ I thought to myself, eyeing the boy with a little hostility left; I could tell he was a boy with a really good heart, just... he might have been a bit bipolar at times - namely, when someone or something pisses him off greatly.

But back to us, what I would never have expected was the second bear-hug that came after Keiko's. And that came from Yoichi himself.

«I'm sorry, I'm so so so sorry for what happened!» he cried out, burying his face against my right shoulder.

I felt his entire body shaking due to the hiccups and probably all the worry that had pooled inside of him during my long sleep: I didn't blame him since neither I would like to be labeled as a murderer at such a young age. Sighing lightly, I returned the hug with one hand while petting his hair with the other.

I didn't want to act all cute and worried towards him, but the boy seriously needed to calm down before he had an heart attack.

«Shush, alright. It was my fault for not being honest with you, I suck at shamanic stuff. And because of my stupid pride you had to experience something bad.» I whispered to him the last sentence before adding an apology too.

"You two are adorable." And I nearly jumped out of my skin hearing the sweet voice of my new spirit. "Are you sure you don't want to marry him, master? You'd make such a cute couple~"

Ignoring those words (and trying to keep myself from growling out loud), I gently freed myself from the hug and faced the other adults.

Kino was the first to speak, strangely. The woman usually didn't talk much. «She's stronger now.»

 _No shit Sherlock_. I bit my tongue before that sharp reply could escape; well, I wasn't that surprised since I recalled that dying was one of the fastest way to gain more furyoku, thus become stronger and stronger, even if I think there's a limit at the potential you could reach. _Not that I want to find out if I am right by dying all over again. Two times are good to me, thank you very much_.

«Not much, really. But I have a spirit now.» was my reply after a few seconds. «I...found it near my head when I woke up earlier.»

I could already sense the suspect rate raising from the Asakuras (maybe I said too much after all) as Yohmei carefully approached me with a critic eye.

"I don't like this old geezer. Nor those three behind him." Tsumizuki - that was the Spirit's name - whispered and I could feel her knotting her eyebrows together. "Tell them."

«Uhm, she doesn't seem to like you all.» I said to Yohmei and the others as my spirit asked to; it was funny to see their confused reactions. «So I don't think she'll show herself while you're around.»

"Hell nope~" My spirit agreed happily.

I blinked. _...I was joking, you know._

"I was not." And that's final.

The old man looked even more suspicious and not amused now. «And how do you plan working on your oversoul if you can't show your spirit?»

That was the question I feared the most in that moment. And as every time I did something stupid, I opened my mouth only to make it worse, YAY!

«...I'll train by myself?»

 ** _SBAM_** _!_

«You naïve IDIOT! Why do you think that shamans need a teacher before completely mastering their techniques?! It's not a simple task you can achieve alone!»

 _JESUS CHRIST, MAN! Stop the violence already!_ I cursed under my breath, after a punch came onto my head in a rather painful way. My hands clutched the offended point while my dark orbs promised suffering and sorrow to the small man. _I'll kick your ass one of these days, you damned-!_

 **CRACK**.

My inner rant stopped suddenly as I heard a gasp coming from said man: the wooden floor just cracked loudly, a large slash on them as if someone tried to break them apart with an insane amount of force. The thing was, it happened in a matter of seconds and had Yohmei been an instant later, the old geezer would almost certainly lost a limb or two.

Whooops.

"Are you alright, dear~?" the Spirit asked a little too joyfully. I felt myself smiling with all my pride before nodding to her and smirking at Yohmei, who looked rather shocked. "He wasn't expecting that, huh?"

No, no he wasn't, and I found the thing hilarious. _So much for being the head of the family. How could he think to defeat Hao if he's at this level?_

"Master, I suggest to not be arrogant now." My spirit reprimanded me. "Even if I know I'm this awesome~"

I pouted at her. Such an eccentric personality she had.

«Is this your spirit's doing, Karura?» Mikihisa asked, looking carefully at me and the slash on the floor. I nodded slowly. «Impressive... still, you need to get that in control before someone gets badly hurt.»

 _Meh, Mikihisa is being a Captain Obvious._ I rolled my eyes. _I think they're on their way of considering me a threat like Hao or something._

Tsumizuki let out a soft chuckle in my mind. "Is this Hao such a serious threat?"

 _I'll explain later, let me concentrate a moment on this matter_.

"Aye miss~!"

«So...» I began, erasing the odd silence in the room. «Ideas on how I should train from now on?»

The room went _on mute_ again, until... «I may have a suggestion.» All the eyes were on a smiling Shiho.

I swallowed as I saw a strange light in her eyes. _I don't like that look, I feel there's something I'm going to fear.._.

Thankfully, my spirit's presence was enough to calm me down a bit.

* * *

Long story short, the woman offered to take me with them and train me until I was a "perfect shaman queen" - her words, because yes, Shiho was absolutely convinced that her son would become the Shaman King, and yes, apparently since I was going to be his wife I'd become the Shaman Queen or something.

Such an endearing, prideful, naïve thing she was.

(I knew already how it would end all the tournament stuff, but I kept silent for the moment)

This said, the four of us - the Tamashimi and myself - were travelling by car to a near city, where they had a household or something. And before you ask, no. I have not surrendered to the idea of marriage. I was just using the situation to my advantage, but I... kind of had to act up like I accepted.

"It sounds like you are being in denial, master~"

 _Shut up, Tsumizuki_.

«S-So, Asakura-san...» Yoichi began slowly.

«Just Karura is fine.»

It would be a pain if he kept calling me by surname since there were too many that were going to have it.

"Besides nobody ever heard of someone call his fiancée like that. Why don't you two use lovely nicknames~?"

 _SHUT. UP_. The last thing I needed was a ghost shipper, jeez.

«Uh, Ka-Karura-san, then?» I nodded at Yoichi, ignoring my spirit's comments. «W-Well, do you plan to... join the c-competition to become S-Shaman King in the future?»

I weighed up my possibilities: if I did nothing about it, then my presence here would be pointless and the story would have gone on like the original one, with only fewer differences maybe; which was still a good thing by the way. On the other hand, if I participated then I would risk to change everything I knew from my intervention onwards, in a better or worse way, which was risky but could bring hopefully positive happenings. I wasn't sure, but maybe I could even save a few characters from a painful death - like the two kids with the giant robot, or Boris (whose story seriously made me cry both in the anime and the manga) for example.

 _That mean that if I'm careful enough it would be alright, right?_

Plus, there was the mysterious mission from Asano, which I really didn't understand yet: she was all on the cryptic side, reminding me about said mission but always telling that I would know when the time was right.

I frowned. «I think I'll join, there are things that I have to do.»

«Like helping your brothers?»

 _...What_. I snapped my head to Hanemasa, who was now in the driver seat of the car. He was smiling politely and that reminded me terribly of a certain mastermind of evil from another manga - _cough_ Aizen _cough_. A shiver ran down my spine.

«Don't sweat it, I don't mean any harm, neither does my family.» he continued. Yoichi, on my right, nodded profusely as he held my hand lightly (I frowned at that for a second before focusing back to the main topic). Remember the "we know you're hiding something" feel I had towards them? Well, it came stronger than ever in that moment, putting me on edge... but surprisingly enough not in a very threatening way.

To make things worse maybe there was also the slight paranoia caused by the fact that my parents just accepted to hand me to a family that I barely knew, at the tender age of FIVE years old. No matter how much they said I'd be okay, that the Tamashimi were good people and would take care of me greatly.

 _Psh, stupid Asakuras and their nonexistent parental side. They might be allies, but you can never know, really..._

(paranoia, I said. Anyway, I couldn't help but feel like I was the one making things more difficult while really there wasn't any need. And this made me kind of angry with myself)

In any case, I used the "faking ignorance" card. «I think you didn't sleep well, Tamashimi-san, since you're confused. I don't have brothers.»

 _Not ye-_ «Not yet.»

I silenced myself instantly. _...did he just...? No, he couldn't-_ «I did.»

 _Oh sweet, f-cking Lord, no no no-_. Panic flowed into me like a river. _No no n- WAIT, calm down, girl. That must be something like Reborn's power to read minds through facial expressions, right? He can't possess the reishi or whatever-it's-called ability to read minds. Because if he does_ \- «You're in a mess.»

Okay, that was too much. Screw panic and all.

«LET ME FINISH MY OWN THOUGHTS, WILL YOU!» I snapped, shouting at him at my top volume.

While I regretted my own words, he laughed heartedly. «You're just as funny as I thought. But don't worry, as I said before no one wants to harm you. The exact contrary, in fact.»

It took some time to compose myself again and I enjoyed it very much in silence (I hoped I wasn't hyperventilating).

«...So you knew it all along.» I said after a while. Hanemasa nodded without looking at me. «And you... didn't tell Mikihisa, Keiko nor anyone...?» Another nod. «...Oh. Just- why?»

Shiho answered that impatiently with a loud huff. «Because it looks like you have an high knowledge of this world and its future happenings. You're not the first soul that gets reincarnated in another world, you know.» she paused, maybe to let me absorb this piece of information - or to allow herself to choose the right words to continue.

While I was ranting in my mind ( _what the f-ck means that I'm not the first one?!)_ , the woman took a deep breath and began talking again.

«One of our family's ancestors did the same. He was just an old man in his original world and he died by age, but then he came back to life in our world. He remembered things about his previous life and this made him terrified of himself and the others around him, to the point where he believed that his existence here was a mistake... and because of it that someone would come for him and kill 'an error that should not exist'.»

 _God, this guy was way worse than me._ I thought, making Tsumizuki laugh in my mind.

«His wife tried to help him to overcome those fears... they had children of love, with the hope of saving the poor man with the thought of a lovely family waiting for him every day.» she paused again, voice shaking. «It didn't though. He... he tried to kill them because he feared that they would reveal his secret to the world, he feared to be condemned of heresy or madness, killed or whatever fate it awaited him in that case.»

 _Why does she look so distressed by merely talking about it?_ It seemed more like a legend passed down from a generation to another to me, so why?

Then it hit me. _Is she one of his descendants...?_

"My dear master, I suggest you to pay close attention now and leave the rest for later~"

Shiho kept talking also while I was lost in my thoughts. «... so, when my husband here said that you had the same... _problem_... I thought we could help you, to avoid you to become the same as that man. And it looks like you have a special purpose here too, so it might be... simpler.»

(the "to keep you sane" part went unsaid, thankfully)

It made sense - sort of - to me now. I still didn't know why or how it happened, but the process of reincarnation is possible. That made me think.

 _Does it mean that my soul will be able to travel between worlds once I die again? Or will the process work just for once? Am I bound to stay here, in Shaman King's world forever? Will I become part of the Great Spirit and forget who I've been...?_

In my memories from the manga, the souls that were part of the Spirit King didn't look like they had a conscience, definitely not. They were like... puppets, nothing more than pure energy. I felt my head spinning.

 _...I'm afraid. I don't want to become like that. I... I want to go home._ _ **My**_ _home, in the real world._

Why was I making such thought suddenly? Didn't I decide that I'd live that new life at my best? I was regretting everything I did in those five years, denying my own purposes and the occasion Asano offered me. I suddenly felt guilt for not thinking about my real parents' emotions, not even once since I've been reborn.

It was suffocating.

Tsumizuki's voice chimed in a little to happily for my tastes. "You're human, master. A fragile, egocentric little human after all~ Is it so traumatizing to realize that? You're not different at all from them~"

Tears were forming at the corners of my eyes, I could feel them. _She's right, I've been an ungrateful idiot, foolish, arrogant girl..._

"Then, why don't you act like yourself? Be egoist, it's not a bad thing~"

Why was her voice this soothing...? I felt like being cuddled by invisible arms, with the affection of a mother, as my vision slowly faded into blackness.

"See, I don't judge you like those three humans do. I like you for what you are, my dear master. So... why don't you let me manage all those painful situations? You know, you can trust me."

 _That's right, Tsumizuki is right... I trust her. I must... rely on... her... complet-_

« _KARURA_!»

My eyes suddenly snapped open and back to complete consciousness, as a bolt just struck me from head to toe (pain was still numbed, but I was going to feel it all later). And the first thing I saw were Shiho's troubled expression and a bright blue sky above me. _...what?_

«What the hell...?» I managed to say before a surge of electricity bolted in my body again, making me scream.

«Shiho, I think she's back.» Hanemasa's calm voice stated, while the tears I held before went down my cheeks thanks to the pain I was feeling.

«I know, that was merely punishment for _being an idiot_.» the woman stated, completely collected and a bit satisfied too, while I tried to raise my laying form from the ground (we were in a stop area, you know the ones at the side of the road that you may use to rest a bit during a long journey?).

You know, in my former life I hated, loathed, despised pain in all its forms. So you may understand why I called her all possible names on Earth when I elaborated what she said: she punished me for something I didn't even know!

* * *

Hanemasa - that man shall be a saint - sighed as he put the once irate, now mortified form of the five years old girl back to the ground. He just ended to explain her what had happened a few moment before.

«It was a possession attempt from the spirit you have as partner: Tsumizuki has made its move and tried to break your spirit in order to have a body of its own. And to do that it had to make you concentrate on your negative feelings such as guilt, sorrow, egoism only to give you an illusion of acceptance and affect a moment later.»

That's how that kind of spirit worked.

The man had to stop the car as soon as possible since Karura didn't seem to hear their calls anymore and take the child outside, so Shiho could perform a sort of exorcism ritual. It was by mere second they managed to bring the young Asakura back - she suddenly felt like hell and profusely apologized to them all (but still kept insulting Shiho in her mind for the 'punishment' she received from the woman).

It made Hanemasa want to laugh, to be honest.

The woman sighed dramatically, bringing a hand to her chin. «My, my, what a troublesome little girl. But fear not, once I'm done with you there will be no signs of this untamed nature of yours.»

«Tch, good luck with that, old hag.» was Karura's reply.

And that's how the two females kept glaring to each other for the time being of the drive. Yoichi found them funny too apparently because he kept giggling to himself every time the young Asakura turned her head away from his mother - a childish move, really, but she was a child after all.

The little boy hoped that that sort of atmosphere would last long enough, only that.

* * *

 **So, yeah. Karura's not the only one that comes from another world.**

 **Even if it doesn't show, she's a hell lot afraid to talk about her past self with others. Usually she doesn't even think about it (so she can stay on the safe side, mentally), but this time let's just thank her spirit for blowing things up.**

 **That's Tsumizuki for you, yay!**

 **Please review**


	6. Chapter 06: A touch of destiny

**Hiya** **~ hello everyone!**

 **This time I have an annoucement to make: this one will be the last chapter in the "childhood arc" for Karura. From the next one we'll start with the real plot and the tournament.**

 **As I already said via pm to the user Ninazu, there will be "holes" in the timeline, but don't worry because everything will be mentioned through flashbacks later.**

 **Annoucement done, up to the chapter now!**

 **As always thanks to everyone who reads, reviews or favourites/follows the story!**

 **Enjoy~**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes. (I'm not sure if I should put M instead since I'm not used to the rating here - please tell me if you think I should change that!)**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

After the possession incident, time literally flew by.

Surprisingly enough, in a matter of months I did improve in my shamanic ability a lot. The lesson Tsumizuki involuntarily taught me was really well kept in mind - I was always wary of her, not letting any opening for her to exploit (she didn't try again in that period but as Shiho said "never lower your guard"; I treasured her advice-order too since I didn't want to be electrocuted more than I already was).

Mainly thanks to the woman's harsh training (which was tougher than the old man's, to my complete despair; UGH), Hanemasa's advices and Yoichi's help as a sparring partner I managed to acquire a good control over Tsumizuki. I even made her materialize for the first time and not in a simple "ball form".

(I'll let you know that her full appearance is rather stunning: long light blue hair that matched her indigo eyes, a curvy body and fair skin. She's a looker, yep, too bad that she's a really tricky and heartless personality)

By the way, once every one or two weeks I had to return to the main house of my family to update them on my progress in possession and spiritual control - that and only that, since I'd never answer Keiko's question about my relationship with the Tamashimi heir.

He helped me and I was sincerely grateful, but nothing more.

In any case, last time I visited there was something that made me really anxious and happy at the same time: I was no expert, but even I could see that Keiko was at an advanced stage of her pregnancy. The roundness at her waist was so obvious! Kino had said that her daughter was going to give birth in a week or two at most.

That was great, hadn't it be for a little detail: the Asakuras knew that Hao had reincarnated in their family and knowing that they would try to kill him.

To kill. a f-cking. newborn.

The thought alone made me want to puke.

I felt a I-know-what-you-feel gaze upon me and I really didn't need to ask myself who it was: Hanemasa was seated at my left on the train - the poor man (or Shiho) had to accompany me back and forth to Izumo every time; at least Yohmei offered them a good treat - and gave me a look of sympathy. To be honest I really liked him as a person: it was a bit disturbing that he could read my mind and all, but he was kind and caring and also gave me a few suggestion on how to control my thoughts, which I was grateful for since I would have to deal with Hao in the (almost) near future.

"Master, may I ask you why are you so distraught today~? It's not like you at all. Perhaps do you want me to take control again and ease you burdens~?" Tsumizuki's silky voice echoed in my head, making me sigh.

To my surprise, I was wrong when I thought that my spirit was able to read my mind - well, she could but only when I allowed her to, even if she preferred to communicate mentally rather than to show herself and talk. To me it was fine either way.

 _No, thanks. However to answer you question, today is my little brothers' birthday, but it won't be a good experience for Mikihisa, Keiko and the elders._

Because of Hao. Because they saw the "threat he represented to the world". I snorted in my mind while Tsumizuki just laughed at the idea of the Asakuras' future sufferings.

«Karura, mind if I ask you something?» Hanemasa suddenly asked after a few moments. I looked at him before nodding. «Well, I heard what you were saying... are you sure there's no way to end it differently? For your parents at least.»

«Maybe, well... I don't think I'd be able to stop them or convince them to not kill Hao, but I may be able to save Mikihisa a bad burn on the face.» I replied, still not sure if I would effectively be able to stop the Spirit of Fire, even if its smaller and weaker form. «I suppose I could try...»

The man nodded slightly and silence filled the space in the carriage - we were strangely the only ones on that, besides an old man seated on the front. I honestly enjoyed the silence because it helped me think, but since I was with Hanemasa I had to focus to create a...wait what was the name he used, _mind lock_? _Mind mirror_? Well, something like that to prevent him from accidentally reading my mind.

It was a pain in the ass sometimes, however I tried hard: it's not like I wanted someone to know all my dirtiest secrets every time.

«You know...» he began again after a while. «I find it curious that you call your relatives by name. I only heard you refer to Yoh and Hao as "my brothers" until now. Why is that? It's like you don't want to be linked with the others.»

I froze a second, not expecting that kind of question. It took me a few moments to elaborate a decent answer - I could lie, lie all the way as Tsumizuki was suggesting, however I seriously didn't care about he may think of me after my reply.

«I don't really like nor trust them. The Asakuras were- _are_ ready to kill a child. _A child_ , Hanemasa-san. Would you ever think about doing that to Yoichi?» My voice was barely a whisper but it shook with anger. «Even if Mikihisa and Keiko gave birth to my actual body, I despise them for trying to do something so... _inhuman_. They only see the monster, not the human being that is Hao Asakura.»

Silence filled the carriage once again for a few moments before the man spoke again. «And... you think you may change him in something better...?»

«...»

What did I want to do? _Change him... in what now, a complete demon?_ He didn't need someone that thought like that, he had enough. «I don't know... but at least I'll try to be a good sister to him and Yoh.»

There were no more questions after that.

* * *

The air was terribly tense in the residence, I could feel it.

When Hanemasa and me arrived at the estate, Yohmei was the one who welcomed us. He looked so tired I almost didn't recognized him. The old man apologized to Yoichi's father because in that occasion he wasn't able to repay the kindness of escorting me back home like the other times, and I quote him, "because that evening the family had an important meeting to attend to".

 _Bullshit_ , I thought, knowing too well what was waiting for them and myself.

But I feigned ignorance as always, much to Tsumizuki's delight, and I went to greet Mikihisa, Kino and finally Keiko, who was in bed due to the pains of labor. After I took a quick shower and changed in a comfortable kimono, I returned to the pregnant woman's side, taking her hand in a (false) attempt to comfort her; she let me though, maybe thinking about it as a good sign of me warming up to her - we didn't exactly have a close mother-daughter relationship due to her work and my distance.

I knew I should have felt bad to not care much about them and I normally would, but... I couldn't bring myself to.

«May... may I try to listen to them...?» I asked at a certain point, still holding to Keiko's hand; at first there were just glances among Mikihisa and Yohmei, who sat on the opposite side of the bed (with Kino and me sitting to the other) the woman was in, but in the end they must have seen no problems about it.

As they gave me the okay, I slowly and carefully put my head on Keiko's waist.

 _Who knows if they can hear me_. I wondered to myself, closing my eyes a bit. An then I felt it: a little, weak kick that hit my chin; it made me smile. _Don't worry, I'll protect you two_.

Minutes slowly passed while Keiko sometimes stirred due to the pain - the medicines Kino gave her made it easier, but didn't completely erase it - and I always held her hand with my smaller one. At a certain point I fell to a light slumber, probably due to the relaxing sound of rain outside and the candle lights that dimly illuminated the room.

I wish I _completely_ fell asleep, though: in that case, I wouldn't have had to listen to Yohmei, Kino and Mikihisa's talk.

* * *

"Killing a baby is a sin" - _then why are you going to do it?_

"Even if we were to abort the baby that will be born, it would only end up that he would be born into another's body" - _if it's useless then stop this madness_.

"This is the fate of an Asakura" - _bullshit! You decide what your fate is!_

But who made me even more furious was Mikihisa.

"I really have to thank you two. This decision must have been painful."

"I don't really mind, father. It must be more painful for Keiko than for me."

 _...what? What are you saying?!_

"Besides... we still have Karura. She's our first heiress."

"She shouldn't be here now."

"That child is still an Asakura. She has to, even if... she's too young to see something like this."

They worried about me only to not think about the sin they're about to commit; so I thought and, for once, Tsumizuki honestly agreed with me.

 _I don't care if you're lying to make things easier, Mikihisa. You shouldn't give up your sons this easily._

All the smallest respect that I might have hold for him, for them vanished that moment. I didnt' remember those phrases, but now...

 _I don't care if you consider me you daughter, I despise you - each one of you_.

I wouldn't try to help them.

They didn't deserved it.

* * *

«It's about time.» Yohmei's voice made me open my eyes. Noticing that I was awake, Kino ushered me to get away from Keiko because she was going to give birth soon.

I don't remember what happened later since my mind went blank for a few minutes; when I got back to my senses again, the first baby was already born and was crying on a large cushion.

 _Hao_.

Yohmei had already invoked his shikigamis and was going to attack. Kino kept me away from her daughter.

In that moment I saw it: the glimpse of hesitation that caused the fall of this murderous plan. An orange spark lighted in mid air, anticipating the appearance of the smaller form of the Spirit of Fire; after that, the fight broke loose: Yohmei's shikigamis were disrupted and the man himself lost consciousness due to an attack that made him bleed profusely. Then Mikihisa shielded him with his body, gaining the infamous burn on his face, just before calling his guardian spirits to destroy the other.

The Elemental Spirit, though, disappeared before they even made contact.

"Hahaha, something like that cannot possibly beat the Spirit of Fire." He said telepathically to the five of us.

I remembered this part. _Its medium is oxygen. And since oxygen is everywhere on this Earth, he can easily reincarnate with his spirit and use it at any time he wants, even as a baby_.

After that explanation, Hao would thank Keiko and talk about Yoh, saying that "he'll choose the path of a king" and asking "to bring him up well" because he was going to "retrieve his second half".

It surprised me that I didn't even move during the whole mess: I kept watching until Hao's departure - he didn't seem to even acknowledge my presence - as I was once again my past self, simply reading the manga scan for the umpteenth time. I wasn't though, that was the real deal and I had the sensation of aggressive warmth on my skin to prove that.

 _Still, I'll be your ally, always. I'll love you nonetheless, dear brothers of mine._

* * *

In the end, morning came.

Yohmei apologized to Keiko and Mikihisa for his hesitation, while the two reassured him, telling that if he hadn't felt that same hesitation then the child that the priestess was holding dearly wouldn't have survived.

 _Captain Obvious once again._

They were all fatigued for the harsh night, it was evident; as for me, I couldn't sleep after the event - and the rage - and none of the Asakuras forced me to: I simply sat outside, facing the courtyard, and waited for dawn to come.

"You know, master. Seeing you like this, not even feeling guilt or remorse for not helping them last night, is kind of disturbing." Tsumizuki commented, floating beside my head. "Are you sure you're not a monster as well~?"

«F-ck off, demon. Make yourself useful and look for Hao in the area, I want to know if he's still around here, even if highly doubt it.» I ordered calmly; Shiho taught me well to keep my cool. And I didn't have the strength to discuss that early, in all honesty.

The spirit obeyed faithfully and vanished from my sight just before a sound of steps came to my ears.

«Karura, are you okay?» It was Yohmei; he probably finished speaking to the couple.

I shrugged. «I'm fine.»

The old man slowly made his way to the point where I was at and sat beside me. «Karura, about last night... I see you're still shocked, but there's something you should know.»

 _Oh, so he thinks I was and still am shocked. That's good then_. I accepted his version, not bothering to correct him, and let him tell his story.

This situation reminded me The Talk that I had with my real mother, in my past life, the only difference being that there were not bees and flowers but shamans, evil spirits and death. I think I drifted to sleep somewhere during the part of Hao's second life, but whatever.

It was not like I didn't already know about them.


	7. Chapter 07: Shamans on the road

**Hi~i! Already back, yes.**

 **Can you blame me? The tournament starts! Hao makes an appearance! Yay!**

 **... *coughs* Ahehm, please enjoy~**

 **(you'll find a little "trivia corner" at the end of this chapter too; today's theme is Tsumizuki!)**

 ** _EDIT : I realized that I kind of f-cked up years and ages, I beg your pardon. If I'm not wrong Yoh and Hao should be fifteen/sixteen at most at the beginning of the Shaman Fight, not thirteen. My mistake (please tell me if you see that I forgot to change somewhere, I should have corrected everything but you can never be too sure...)._**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

«Good morning, everyone! My name's Asakura Karura, eighteen years old and licensed shaman! After dying in what I think it's a parallel world of this one, I've been reborn in Japan (Izumo prefecture, precisely) in a family whose occupation is shamanic stuff since some centuries ago. Fact is, I already know what will happen in the future and I want to help my brothers. To do that I decided to train myself and participate to the Shaman Fight that-»

«Karura-san, is this running commentary really needed...? It will raise suspicion!»

I pouted at the brown haired male at my side. «Why do you always have to spoil the fun, Yoi-chan?»

The young man face-palmed, shaking his head from side to side, cheeks a little red for the nickname; and that is the universal sign of defeat made in Yoichi.

I found it really entertaining to tease him and especially do things that would embarrass him, to be honest; at least we didn't get bored on our way to the Yokocha Air Base, a.k.a. the starting point for the ones that qualified for the first part of the real tournament.

Both Yoichi and me made it of course, but between us he was the one who did best: three wins for him and two for me. The best thing is, you will never imagine who I had to fight: the Great Spirit apparently decided that it would be fun to nearly blow up all my plans to keep a low profile until the beginning of the true tournament.

Namely, I did get two matches against two of Hao's henchmen.

(kind of off-topic: I was happy I didn't get that hypocrite four eyes from the X-Laws to fight against, because in that case I would have gone a bit too far during the match. My violent tendencies had definitely worsened after all the time I spend with Shiho, who was actually at the top on my list of "worst sadists" I knew and/or met.

Not even Reborn out-bested her, that was quite something)

By the way, point is I couldn't- no, rather _wouldn't_ fight against that adorable little thing named Opacho. Seriously who on this planet would? She's just too cute and sweet!

And I may have said those compliments out loud just before the match. And she may have heard as well - if I remembered correctly she's able to read minds too and I didn't used the _mind lock_ Hanemasa suggested me - which was definitely embarrassing ; in any case, she didn't show signs of knowledge (thank the Spirit King).

In the end, I surrendered before the first attack and that was it.

But, well. I made up for that match on the second and third ones, the last being the most memorable: my opponent was Kanna - KANNA of all people! Remember the girl with blue hair, smoker, who uses an armor as a medium and is one of the most ferocious among Hao's followers? Her.

I kind of liked her badass-ness, but she ended up getting her ass handed to her in a matter of minutes. Whoops.

(I know I shouldn't get ahead of myself, but hey: I want to take every inch of fun out of it, I became stronger for a reason after all!)

Tsumizuki had a bit of fun too but no matter how happy she becomes, she won't show herself in public.

Since we found the most comfortable mediums for her and begun to train with it, our relationship had kind of improved: the mental cursing sessions had become simply small bickering and teasing. We also had a sort of truce between us: if she didn't try to possess me too often (she still tries a lot, anyway), I would let her break loose against certain people, the ones I loathed; up until now she had the decency to let her victims alive... even if barely.

«...Karura-san?»

I turned to Yoichi as he called me with an angelic smile. «Mh?»

He sweat-dropped. «You were making that disturbing face again. What were you thinking about?»

«Nothing in particular, I was remembering something...» I trailed off, happily noticing how the young man bought it - or pretended to buy it, either way is fine for me. That's one thing I liked of him: he never pried for information unless it's _really_ important.

"Still not getting married~?"

 _And you would think that after fifteen years she will give up..._

* * *

Once we arrived at the meeting point I practically dragged Yoichi to the food stalls: since at home we both had to follow a strict diet - f-cking Shiho for you - I couldn't wait to eat some treats and junk food of sorts. While looking for said stalls (hopefully spotting Karim's and Silva's) I eyed the participants that had already arrived: there were the Booz, the siblings' giant robot that will cause problems later in the plot, the Gandhara and-

 _Shit, I need to hide_.

Fortunately I managed to hide behind a huge monk or something before the leader of the future team Hana could spot me (we didn't exactly part on the best terms after the match, so she may be out for my blood now). Before I could embarrass myself further, though, Yoichi waved at me from a stall that I recognized at Silva's; I run to him without a second thought.

«Oh, welcome!» the man behind the stall greeted me.

I smiled at him. «Hi there! What do you have here?» was my question as I eyed the two stalls one had takoyaki while the other sold choco-bananas.

 ** _Grooowwwl~_**

 _...well, this is embarrassing_. I laughed awkwardly while Yoichi simply smiled.

«Here, your moneybag. Take whatever you want, but... remember to save something for later.»

I rolled my eyes at his _mother-hen_ mode _._ «Yeees mooommy~»

It was fortunate that I found part-time works to accumulate money in the past years. _I may have mental issues on certain themes, but I'm still against thievery_.

«Well, may I have...» I counted on my hand. «...seven portions of takoyaki and seven of choco-bananas, please?» I said happily, ignoring Yoichi's sigh besides me - he might have muttered something like "here she goes again", but I'm not sure.

The Patchs were a bit astonished but complied nonetheless, more than happy to have business in my opinion. I watched as they prepared the treats, only taking three portions of each.

«Ah, could you give these to Yoh and his friends, please? They'll be here soon I think.»

Now they looked really confused. However, after a few seconds they both shrug it off - maybe they thought I'm a friend of theirs or something.

 _It would be funny to see their confused faces when Silva and Karim give them those treats!_

* * *

Minutes later said teens were confused, of course.

The two officiants met them not much after Karura and Yoichi left and gave them the takoyaki and choco-bananas, which they accepted (Ren was the only one to actually look suspicious, but in the end he gave in too).

There were questions about this mysterious girl that paid for the food from the boys and Ryu went all romantic mode because "maybe they had a shy admirer that wanted to show them her support" - theory that gained the approval from Horo Horo but was soon demolished by the young Tao heir, who said that was more probably a trap or something.

On the other hand, Yoh remembered an appearance similar to the one Silva described among the participants he met and promised himself to ask on the first occasion.

* * *

After I paid for everything, I gave Yoichi his share of snacks while we went to a nearby area with a few benches to sit on. It was rather peaceful with the sun shining up there and the light breeze blowing in the air; I relaxed while I took my first bite.

«Is offering food a new tactic of the Asakuras to make their enemies lower the guard?»

Yoichi nearly jumped out of his skin upon hearing that voice, while I almost choked on the takoyaki.

 _Sweet f-cking hell, why does he have to appear like that?!_

I composed myself rapidly before looking at the smirking teen, but before I could say anything a high-pitched voice spoke. «It's her, master Hao. The one that Kanna and me have met.»

A genuine smile crept up to my face. «Opacho, it's been a while! How are you?»

The child, obviously throw off a bit by my enthusiasm, backed away and half-hid behind her master. That made me want to hug her even more. However, I kept smiling as I turned my attention to the older boy.

«I'll let you know that I feel offended by your assumption, don't group me up with them. And to answer your question, nope. It's called "spoiling people" and I quite like to do that.» I said with the best honestly-friendly tone I could muster as I reached for the small plastic bag that Silva gave me. «Want some too?»

Between Yoichi's tense expression, Opacho's unsure one and Hao's smiling face I didn't know what was more strange. Thankfully after a few moments of hesitation on the little girl's part, she approached and took the treats. _Yay!_

«You're just as curious as Opacho said, no doubt they isolated you from their last heir.» Hao commented, looking at the small child's smiling face while she eat. I smiled upon seeing that, not remotely offended by the boy's phrase.

«I take it as a compliment, even though Mikihisa would have called me "bad influence" and not "curious".»

 _F-ck that man_ , I added in my mind. Hao chuckled, probably he managed to read this thought since I wasn't protecting my mind from his ability in that precise moment.

«And I heard that you're quite strong too, the both of you.» he continued, eyeing Yoichi and me alike with his trademark smirk.

I could feel my brown haired friend's tension build up inside him - he was not comfortable in Hao's presence nor with the sole idea of being near him since I told him what I remembered from the manga. He barely manage to answer with a shaky «Thanks then...».

And my little brother was enjoying Yoichi's panic. _Pff..._ _What a sadist_.

«Say, you know who I am, right?» the long haired boy asked addressing no one. I nodded however, eating another takoyaki while he continued. «And you're not afraid of being here with me?»

«Why, firstly if you wanted to attack or kill us you'd already done it. Hence, I don't feel particularly threatened at the moment. Second thing, I like to keep my promises, thank you very much. Last but not least, I'd hate to ruin my meal because of tension and stuff.»

Silence fell again, interrupted only by the sound of the wind blowing. Then, a laugh filled the air - Hao's. «You're the funniest girl I've met this far, I like your guts. Do you want to join me?» _And here he goes_. «You two are welcomed since you're strong.»

«Mmh, what if I say we'll think about it?»

I almost laughed upon seeing the brunette's shocked and panicked face. «Karura-san!»

«Well, think about it as long as you want. I'm a patient one.» Hao chided in, probably still satisfied enough by my answer. I knew that was a tight rope we were walking on, but Yoichi agreed to stand on a neutral side for the time being: he loathed the X-Laws as much as I did, but he also thought that the first of my little brothers was wrong in what he did too.

Basically we were much into Yoh's same position.

(even if I tended to take Hao's defenses mort of times)

«Ah, Hao!» I called, smirking like him as he turned to us again. «Try to not beat Horo Horo too hard, okay?»

After flashing a curious look at me, he just disappeared in a sea of flames.

* * *

The millenary shaman definitely didn't listened to the strange girl's request.

He - or rather, his giant spirit - punched the blue haired boy not so lightly, causing the Tao heir to snap and attack him back. Hao kept smiling, reading the boy's memory and mind to taunt him, before his followers decided to spoil his fun and show up, only to remind him that the plane was going to take off soon.

Psh, the future king already knew that.

He had only one more thing to do: invite his little oblivious brother to join his side.

(Hao already knew that his second half would refuse, yet he was sure that in the long run he would change his ideas; nothing can divide what was once one, after all)

However, there was something else that got him really curious - the meeting with the two earlier that same day. The young male was clearly stronger than her, yet he did show or at least wariness towards him; that was the right reaction, the one the king expected. But the girl, his sister in the flesh... she was the weaker one, yet she acted outwardly friendly towards Opacho and showed no signs of fear of him.

And from what he could sense from them, they carefully kept their minds protected. They knew about his mind-reading ability, he considered, or they both had a protection of some kind; from what he could see, however, one thing was certain: those two had some secrets to hide.

 _Interesting_... Hao's eyes danced with mirth as the shamans gathered to board the Plane.

It looked like his fun had yet to begin.

* * *

 **~ Trivia time ~**

 **Spirit:** ** _Tsumizuki_**

 _Tsumizuki_ (real name: _Tsumiki Tsukiko_ ) is a 600-year old assassin and the spirit of Karura Asakura. She was born on 6 June, 1386 and died at the age of 26, killed by a group of samurais. She feels a deep hatred for that chaste ever since.

 **Background**

She lived her life as a mercenary and assassin for daimyos, but her greedy and moody nature brought her to kill her own masters once she had enough of them. She didn't have an honor code that kept her from assassinating whoever her employer pointed out either.  
The last daimyo she served, though, was smart enough to investigate her past and managed to find out her nasty aptitude. Once she killed a few objective for him, he cornered her into a trap where a group of samurais he deployed finally killed her.  
Her ghost lingered in the wooden area where she was assassinated, possessing innocent bystanders or travellers and forcing them to slaughter whoever came across of them. Finally, she was sent to hell by a capable onmyoji and was imprisoned there until Karura's arrival.

 **Notes on personality**

\- She doesn't like to show herself, habit she had kept from the time she was an assassin.  
\- She doesn't really regret what she has done in her life (nor in her afterlife). Her bloodlust has only worsened during her stay in hell.  
\- Her relationship with her shaman partner is full of ups and downs, quite literally. There are times when the two get along quite well but there are also moments where Tsumizuki tries to force her control over Karura's body to "have fun" (namely, fight and kill people).


	8. Chapter 08: Nightmare-1'200ft in the air

**Hi everyone~**

 **Short chapter, I'll probably update soon after this. But hey, Yoh's crew appears and the travel for Patch Village begins finally!**

 **As always, thanks to everyone who reads, reviews or favourites/follows!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

 _And to think I even asked him nicely_...

From the look in Horo Horo's eyes and the general tension of my little brother's group I could tell that Hao definitely didn't go easy on them. At least they were not hurt too badly, but that was exactly like the original plot.

 _All we can do now is wait for eleven more hours before being literally left to die at 1'200 meters of height_. Luckily enough, Yoichi was prepared beforehand for that: his Over Soul could take a form suitable for flying since one of his spirits - he got two of them - was a tengu or something similar. _I think its name was Yatagarasu but I may be wrong..._

A loud yawn escaped my lips before I turned to my right, where my companion sat reading a the latest number of Square Jump! - he liked that magazine to the point that he never missed a number. «I'm going to take a nap, wake me in a few hours so you can rest a bit too before the main event.»

He barely acknowledge the fact that I spoke to him, but nodded nonetheless. _Such an intense reader he is sometimes_. And with that thought I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

I found myself in the place I usually ended up when I dreamt of her; it had been a while since the last time, but I was happy nonetheless to see Asano again.

«Asano-san, good morning! Or good evening, I don't really know... do you happen to have a wristwatch or something?»

The blonde woman forced a smile, but didn't humor me that time; she did a lot in the past, but not that moment. «The tournament has finally begun as well as your mission, child.» she said bluntly - and with a single phrase she manage to throw me in complete panic.

You know, no matter how confident I acted on the outside, I still was a scared-cat who was able to keep herself from freaking out only because she had already considered many, many possibility of scenarios and organized a counter-plan to use against them. Of course, with the Tamashimis' help.

I felt more a threat then a help when I was alone, that's why Yoichi's presence alone was a big help to me.

And mind you, I did not say that because I loved him or anything: he was my companion, the person I came to entrust my back to in battle, a _friend_ I could rely on. Since I already knew that Hao was going to become Shaman King in the end, I decided that after the tournament I would support and help Yoichi in whatever he wanted to do - I owned him this much.

But I digress, let's get back to our story.

«Listen, I know you always talked about this mission and said that I would know once the time is right, but do you think you can give me a hint this time? Pretty please? It's just confusing and I'm too stupid to figure out alone.» I pleaded, using my puppy eyes against her - they never worked in the past, but you can never know.

In fact, after a few moments of silence, she spoke again. «I have little time left now, but... this will be of help probably. What you used until now is not my full name, rather a short form.»

I felt my brows furrowing. _Dunno why, but I feel a little betrayed now_.

«My name is Asanoha Douji and I lived a thousand years ago in Japan's Heian Era.»

An imaginary bell rang in the back of my head at the revelation. It was a familiar sensation, similar to the déjà-vùs in my past life caused by strange dreams I had; generally that meant that whatever I was doing or hearing or reading, it was something I _had_ to know already.

I couldn't ask anything after that though due to a sudden, strong pain inside my head that would surely have got me on my knees, had I been in the real world. Vision blurring, a phrase still reached my ears; it was merely a whisper, but I sensed that there was care and hurry in the tone she used.

 _Please, force some common sense in his head for once_...

* * *

A pair of dark brown eyes snapped open, looking vaguely at the grey-ish-white ceiling, almost making the young man not far from there jump; Yoichi watched his companion worriedly but didn't try to snatch her from her world: he knew better, it was not the first time she had bad dreams or talks with her inner voices, and he definitely didn't want to get punched painfully in the face for having waken her up "too early".

One time had been enough for him - and it happened when they were both weaker. Yoichi didn't want to know what might happen now that her strength had improved conspicuously after his mother's training sessions.

When the young man saw Karura stand up abruptly and leave to the bathrooms, he knew that she "was back", however his gut told him that he was definitely not in a good mood at the moment. He sighed, checking the time on his wristwatch: still seven hours at least.

A loud banging noise - as if someone just got _hit_ and sent _flying_ to the plane's side - suddenly echoed in the aircraft shortly after, startling many of the participants, but the Tamashimi heir simply shrugged it off, deciding to go back to his reading: he didn't need to see what was happening there, nor he wanted to. He probably already knew.

 _Karura-san is scary sometimes_.

But he liked her nonetheless, even if his mother's bad attitude rubbed off on her a lot more than expected.

For this reason he obliged promptly when she came back a few moments later, her fringe still a little soaked (she must have refreshed herself, he thought) and ordered him to rest.

* * *

While Yoichi got a few hours of sleep I spent my fair share of time thinking about the dream I had, getting more and more frustrated as I felt the solution so near yet so far: it was a hell lot frustrating and that made me want to hit someone so badly... Fact is, of course I couldn't do that and this made me even more irritated.

Thankfully I had my mp3 - music be blessed!

And time passed like this. When only an half an hour or so left I woke Yoichi up and waited with him for the announce from the Patch, which obviously equipped themselves with a parachute - that part always made me laugh, I swear.

 _By the way, is Goldva a man or a woman?_ I thought while the Patch Chief's face was still on screen, speaking with the other occupants of the plain. Yoichi let out a long breath, taking my hand in his so we could not get separated during the fall.

"He's still blushing for something so trivial, isn't he adorable~?" Tsumizuki lightly laughed in my ear, earning a loud mental snort from me.

 _Will you ever let go of tha- HOLY CRAP!_

The sensation of losing any point of support is the **worst** _thing_ **_ever_** , trust me on that: it's a hundred times worse than when you're on a roller coaster at full speed and it does a complete round and you're upside down and WE WERE F-CKING FALLING AT 1'200 METERS FROM EARTH!

(I think I let out a very, very loud and high-pitched screech for a few seconds; if we managed to survive and land safely I had to apologize to Yoichi for bursting his eardrums)

«Ah, you're the girl from that time!» a familiar voice called a few meters below us. I forced myself to open my eyes, which I closed for the sudden fall, and looked at its owner. «So you _were_ a participant after all!»

I tried to smile to my youngest brother Yoh, still holding to my companion's arm for dear life. «Oh, hello there! It's been a while, isn't it? I'm sorry if I'm not polite at the moment, but you know... the adrenaline has a bad effect on nerves!»

«Aha, don't worry! We're kind of in the same situation here!»

Then Tao Ren, who was still falling upside down - I had to stifle a laugh at the sight -, butted in. «Speak for yourself.»

"Oh yeah, he's perfectly fine by falling head first and plant himself in the ground like an arrow~"

I burst out laughing at the image Tsumizuki suggested despite the situation, almost surely gaining a few worried looks from the youths and a ticket straight to the closest psychiatric hospital judging from Ren's eyes. _Poor child, he's thinking something like this and he didn't even see a thing yet!_

Meanwhile, I noticed, Hao and Horo Horo had begun bickering due to the fact that the young Usui tried to use his Over Soul to descend to the ground.

«What should we do, Karura-san?» Yoichi asked, seeing me looking at the group insistently while the discussion went on. «Shall we help them? You said that they would use their Over Souls as a cushion to prevent them being squashed anyway.»

I considered it for a few moments: since I've calmed down thanks to the previous exchange and laugh, I probably could join them with my Over Soul. «If it's alright with you, then...»

He smiled back at me as to give his okay.

«Hey, Yoh! Mind if we join your group?» I asked joyfully to the boy.

My little brother didn't give it a second thought. «Well, why not? The more the merrier, right?»

«I don't see anything merry if we die now!» Horo Horo shouted.

I mentally shrugged and lightened a bit my grip on Yoichi's arm. «Well, we're going to make it work out soon!»

The ground was already visible beneath us and this made the blue haired boy panic even more; thankfully, there was Yoh who punched him on the head and explained the survival plan to him. Once Ryu was finally back and awake too - the poor man fainted due to the shock -, Yoichi and I tried to get nearer to the group and readied ourselves to form our Over Soul: he took his twin sais from their sheaths while I unrolled my whip.

"Heh, can't still go all out, right?" Tsumizuki asked sarcastically. "Fine, I'll hold back. I don't want to kill them already."

 _...Such an endearing spirit you are_.

She giggled. "Why, thank you~"

«Let's go, everyone! Over Soul full power!»

Yoh's shout was the signal: the six of us focused all out furyoku just before crashing ourselves to the ground; the impact was cushioned by the force we mustered, successfully letting us survive this crazy experience. Adrenaline wearing off, I finally felt my knees giving up to me.

«Is anyone hurt?» Someone asked after a few moments. Luckily, none of us was.

My dear brother sighed in relief. «It was a lot easier than I expected.»

I giggled nervously to myself, passing a hand through my now messy fringe, while the others began chatting among themselves - it was something about missing hair and Ren being arrogant. No surprise there. Yoichi, on my left, simply smiled and helped me to get back to my feet.

«Wait a second, who are you?» Horo Horo asked out of nowhere, finally deciding to acknowledge the two new presences. «Were you always there?»

That made him gain a punch on the head by the Chinese boy.

«I think it's time for greetings and introductions, isn't it?» I said before the two could begin a glaring contest which would probably end in a fight. «Pleased to meet you all! My name is Karura and this guy is Yoichi Tamashimi. As you can see we're both shamans, even though there's a gap between our abilities with him being the strongest between us.»

At the end of my explanation, Yoichi laughed slightly embarrassed while scratching the back of his head with a hand. «Nice to meet you.»

The boys introduced themselves too. There was a really, really awkward situation thanks to Ryu, who - after finding out that I was the one that offered them the treats before (apparently, Yoh remembered out first meeting and recognized me after Silva's description) - began to thank me and asked me out. I was flattered by his attention and gratitude, yes, but I still didn't want to be bound romantically to someone yet and it's simply not like me to fuel false hopes in this sense.

While the swordsman recovered from the rejection, the most important question was finally asked:

«Well... which way should we go now?»


	9. Chapter 09: Between illusions & memories

**Starting with an off-topic (kind of) that I must share with you all:** I'm currently reading Shaman King Flowers and I've kinda been traumatized for life after finding out that Hao probably never wore his underwear, according to the Hana-gumi at least. I think I never laughed this hard ever.

(HOW IN THE HEAVEN'S NAME DID THEY KNOW SUCH A THING?)

But... ahehm.

 **Hello everyone~!**

 **I have been actually working a bit on this chapter to change a few things.**

 **And a special _thank you_ goes to the user Ninazu, who made me consider more accurately my choices for the future plot.**

 **Well, extra long (?) chapter for you now.**

 **Please enjoy!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

«I must say... hadn't I see it happen with my eyes I would never have thought it was real.»

This was the first comment that Yoichi made once we got a moment alone; I didn't need to ask what he referred to after acknowledging the greatness of Ryu's Legendary Thumb Technique.

«I know, right? If someone told you this probably you'd have laughed.» I agreed with a happy, amused tone in my voice. Seriously it's awesome and the fact that the farmer, Billy, who I kind of shipped Ryu in bromance with, is even more incredible!

In any case, we arrived in Yontafe Village a few hours ago and, as Ren kindly suggested, we were gathering information upon the Patch (well, not that it was necessary with me and Yoichi in the group, but it was something that had to be done); we split in two groups with the promise to meet again at the city's library later.

Yoichi and I were taking a stroll more than anything, he needed that after staying leg crossed for hours and I desperately wanted a bottle of fresh water.

«Karura-san, do you think we have to strictly follow the plot even now?» he suddenly asked in a whisper, close to me. «We may have already changed something or... I don't know... we may change something in the future...»

 _I know why you're asking this, but_ that _can't be avoided_... I shook my head, gaze lowering to the ground before I muttered, «It's probably... better not to. He would kill her anyway since she... knows about his past life. We might bring her with us for a while, but then once we arrive to the village she may not be able to enter. Then we're back to the starting point.»

I hugged my own arms while speaking: I wasn't really fine with letting the Seminoa woman die, she had a sad life up until now due to the memories of her tribe; she was forced to keep them alive, sacrificing her own happiness.

 _I don't know what to do_.

I was not sure that her being alive would bring great changes in the plot, however...

«... we'll see. If we happen to be able to help her, we'll do it.»

* * *

After half an hour of aimless wandering, the group was completed once again.

«Patch...» Turning my attention back to the librarian, I heard him sigh. «I already checked it many times, there's no Patch tribe.»

«That's impossible! It does exist!»

«Oy, don't think I'm dumb. I actually know a lot about tribe cultures such as Navaro, Papago, Dagota and a lot more. As long as the tribes exist, I know them all.» he replied with his face showing slight annoyance at the same time. _Psh, arrogant man._

«Uhm, excuse me but... I heard that there is a woman in this village whose ancestors were part of an ancient tribe...»

At Yoichi's - impatient - intervention the man's expression brightened a bit. «Oh, right! That girl from the Seminoa tribe, Lirirara.» he said in recognition before standing up and going to a nearby shelf. He came back with a huge - and trust me on the HUGE - volume named "The North American Indian". «The Seminoa tribe existed 500 years ago, but they disappeared before the arrival of white people.»

 _Because of Patch Hao. He killed them all because they opposed him._

«There aren't that many descendants from that tribe that are alive. They really talked about this word, I'll read it to you.»

 **The song of desolation appeared with the 152'621st full moon comet, they were called "messengers of the great knowledge".**

 **They used the power of knowledge, flying over the sky and above the plains, inviting all the earthly youth to a party... but none of them returned, all the strongest children were gone.**

 **The generation that carried our power was gone.**

 **The messenger was called... Patch.**

 **Watch out or else you will be controlled by the devil.**

The shock naturally hit the younger ones as a punch in the face - I couldn't blame them: they trusted their officiants and finding out something like this...

«Listen, I don't know what this means to you, but if you go to that girl an talk to her maybe you'll find out something more.» the librarian suggested, maybe to shoo us off in a polite way. Of course no one opposed.

New destination: Lilirara's house.

* * *

From high above in the sky of the Yontafe Village, Hao was flying on the Spirit of Fire to keep an eye on the group that so much interested him: his little second half was apparently chosen as the leader and everyone followed him with no doubts - funny, the millenary shaman thought, how history always repeated itself. He remembered the first time that he had followers and that sight reminded him of his past.

However, they were far far away from his level - or rather, the level he wanted them to be at, especially Yoh. He was still too weak for his tastes.

He couldn't even realize immediately that what the Seminoa girl used against him and his little friends were mere illusions; they screamed when the spirits of the man (that he killed with his own hand in the past) touched them, when they revived the last experience of their lives.

The fire shaman almost laughed at the memory: funny times, those were.

After such thoughts, he diverted his attention from the group of boys to the duo he approached days earlier: the little Tamashimi heir and the Asakura's firstborn. Oh, he knew that they were hiding something from the thoughts he managed to read here and there, when either one wasn't focusing enough.

One of those two had probably a precognition ability - they knew already that he was going to kill the Seminoa girl once she was finished with his brother's group - but he felt something was amiss about the girl: let's say she knew about what he did in the past, why didn't she hate him as everyone else? Because he was sure of that: Asakura Karura didn't hate him. She was wary, if not slightly afraid, of him but nothing else in a negative way.

 _Strange_.

He watched the two stay to the sidelines after giving up the reviving experience before his gaze went once again back to the group, who was now recovering from the illusion.

«Looks like they connected the dots, huh?» he said to no one, smiling amusedly. «Well, it doesn't matter.»

Because he was going to become king anyway. That piece of knowledge wouldn't help them to gain any power against him, therefore he will be the final winner.

Curious thing, though, happened when another trio appeared on the scene: three men, shamans who were looking for the same information. They didn't last long since they were firstly whipped by a furious Karura with her Over Soul activated and then punched by the young blue haired boy of the Usui tribe.

He laughed amusedly when the three were literally sent flying away.

* * *

 **Yaaawn~**

«Huh? Are you still sleepy, Karura?» I turned to Yoh, who yawned back after talking.

«Yep, thanks to those three sexist assholes I was too nervous to sleep well.»

That, and Ryu's snoring was simply _that_ loud - I had problems in falling asleep, goddamnit! - but I wasn't going to tell him that.

«Aha, weren't you satisfied after hitting them?»

«Not really, no. It was fun though.»

He chuckled after that as we both exited Lilirara's house and reunited with the others: the Saminoa girl was kind enough to let us stay for the night and telling us the story of her tribe, as well as the location of the Patch Village. So here we were, ready to go.

After exchanging our farewells, the five guys I was travelling with begun to walk away. I stayed behind a bit more.

«Aren't you going with them, Karura-san?»

I mumbled. «Lirirara, will you- no, why don't you come with us? You need to see the world a bit, staying here won't do any good to you.» _You will die, body and soul. Please accept and come with us to the Patch Village_.

The offer took her obviously unprepared from the look she gave me. «Leaving my home... and go to the devils' village...?» the girl said thoughtfully. I could read her troubled expression, her answer was going to be...

"She's not coming, master~" My spirit liked to state the obvious. "And you can't save her from death, aha!"

 _Fuck off, Tsumi_.

«Thank you for your concern, Karura-san. But I'll stay here. It's my duty to keep the memory of Seminoa alive in time.»

«Ah...» I couldn't find reasons to force her to leave. Hell, I wasn't even sure that Hao would let her anyway! It was frustrating that there was anything I could do.

...or, was there...? Maybe...

An idea flashed through my mind. It was crazy but it was the real last choice.

«Lirirara, you know... the Patch tribe is not responsible for the deaths of your ancestors. It was only that man's idea, _his_ plan, not _theirs_. Heck, they're not evil at all!» From the look in her eyes probably she didn't believe me; she couldn't bring herself to since I didn't even experienced the Seminoa's pains.

I sighed, putting my hands on her shoulders in a solid grip. «Believe me, I... I've seen it all before. I know what will happen and there's something I'm sure of. If you stay here you'll never find out yourself because you'll die shortly after we leave.»

Her mouth flew open at the revelation, but I didn't give her time to question me. «It will be the same man that killed your spirits, he's really back and he's participating in the Shaman Fight.»

«W-wait! How can you know this much-?» the girl muttered, probably overwhelmed by all the information I gave her. Then, suspicion appeared on her face. «Are you with him?!»

«Yes and no, it's complicated... I'm his sister, older sister, in this life. I know he plans to kill you- don't give me that look now, I'm trying to help here!»

«So you could betray me later as he did?!» Lirirara shouted and freed herself from my grip.

I stood my ground, balling my hands into fists. «Listen, I'm not asking to trust me or forgive him, but if Yoh and the others knew you died in this occasion, they will be very sad. Plus, I'll do whatever I can to prevent Hao from burdening himself with more deaths, even if he seemingly doesn't give a damn. So it's up to you, decide: will you stay here and die for sure, or come with us with all the risks of a long trip and live?»

"That's quite the ultimatum you gave her, wow~"

Lirirara looked at me for a few minutes, right in the eyes - _If she's looking for signs of deceit she can go all day long_ \- before she spoke again. «You... are you serious?»

«If you're unsure then ask your spirits. They're great warriors who can probably tell if someone's lying and they too have your best interests in their account.»

She did as I ordered/suggested; I didn't know what they said but in the end she approached me. «I... I'll be ready in a few moments then... Can you wait for me?»

The smile that dawned upon my face was probably the brightest I ever had. «I'll help you, it will be quicker!»

* * *

«Guys! Guess who's coming with us!»

«Ah, Lirirara!»

«Woah, what a surprise!»

«If you don't mind I'll tag along... as Karura-san said, a change of air may do some good to me, ahah...»

«Well, welcome to our crew then!»

And so the group gained another addition.

* * *

We left Yontafe Village with Lirirara, much to Ryu and Yoichi's happiness - even if their reasons were completely different. And speaking of Yoichi, he kept nagging me a lot due to what I initially said (can't change the plot, can't save that person, etc.). He did jokingly, but it was still annoying and embarrassing!

 _Stupid guy and stupid teasing..._

"He even called you a tsundere while you were spacing out, you know?"

 _HE DID WHAT?!_

I ended up beating me for that, only to find out later that it wasn't true and that had all been Tsumizuki's doing. We both were a lot more tired then, but at least we managed to make Lirirara laugh and smile a bit: it was a big achievement in my opinion.

However, the happy atmosphere didn't last long: that same night, once we went to bed, I saw the strange dream that haunted me since I was five. It sometimes gave me the same feeling I had when Asano-san told me her full name, which made me a bit uncomfortable because I couldn't put my hand on it yet.

It was again the one with fire, screams and blood, but the sensations were even more vivid and real than the past ones - _I'm so going to puke once I wake up from this one_.

Then I saw something different from the other times: an image of Asano-san holding a bundle of cloth to her chest.

I would have thought it was something trivial, had it not moved and gurgled. As if... as if it was alive - _a baby_.

The blonde woman smiled at the newborn. "Welcome to this world, my little treasure. Your name will be..."

«UGH!» I woke up abruptly with a start with a heavy weight on my stomach - which didn't help the nauseating sensation from the dream - and a few imprecations on my tongue. I resisted the urge to scream though, choosing a simple "What the f-ck are you doing?!" to greet my companions.

Turned out that Ryu and Horo Horo had begun to bicker since early morning and the latter somehow ended up jumping on the beds, only to trip on Lirirara's and to flew right on top of mine because he lost his balance.

I growled at him, scaring the poor boy for sure, before standing up, take my bag and fly to the bathroom before anyone could object. After a quick shower and a good amount of time spent in relaxing under the water and taming my stupid hair, I went back to the bedroom so the last of us who had yet to prepare could use the tube.

Finally, after everyone had washed up and finished packing, we exited the motel we were in.

«Are you all ready? We shall start with the map Lilirara gave us.» Yoh started saying, showing an old piece of paper to us. «We are 300 km north of the Yontafe Village.»

«Since when were you the leader?»

«It's an idea of mine. Since our destinies are united right now, we need a leader.»

As Ren began to explain the reasons why he ended up choosing Yoh as the boss of the group (for your information, both Yoichi and me were left out since he was too shy to guide a group and I was "too suspicious" in the Tao's opinion while Lirirara was... too gloomy; poor girl), Yoi-chan studied the map with my brother. And if I'm not wrong...

«We are currently going towards Diringo City, about 200 km from here and at the foot of Lucky Mountains. Over there was the village of the Seminoas 500 years ago.» Yoh explained once we were all back to concentration. «There's a small chance that it's the location of the Patch Village.»

«Even if it's not, it would be a good idea to get there and gather information.» Yoichi added a moment later.

I smiled upon seeing him a lot more comfortable around the others: I feared that he would not get closer to them due to his shyness problem, but it looked like I was wrong.

"Shouldn't you be afraid that he'll leave you and your bullshit once he finds new friends, master~? He'd have all the rights, after dealing with you for fifteen years he'll be tired of it, won't he?"

I snorted.

 _And pray tell, Tsumizuki, whose fault is that he's tired? If someone hadn't tried to take over and kill him and his family maybe he wouldn't, and you know he won't leave me behind anyway_. That wasn't even satisfying anymore - winning a flash-argument against her. _Make me the favor to stay silent until we have the occasion to fight, will you?_

I immediately regretted my words once I saw a familiar silhouette almost all-green approaching. Lyserg Diethel spoke up before I could face-palm.

«To this place, may I come along with you?» He seemed all cutesy and kind, but unfortunately I knew how his arrogant personality would get to Horo Horo's head soon. _This said, him and Ren will probably get hurt a lot if they fight him_.

My spirit grinned madly. "Are you implying what I think you're implying, master~?"

I sighed: this was so _not_ going to end well. I took out my whip, much to Tsumizuki's delight and my extreme annoyance. The others _sans_ Ryu, who was too busy looking dreamily at the young green boy, looked at me quizzically.

Lirirara, who was the closest to me, began asking: «Karura-san, what are you-»

«Let's cut the crap and get done with this, **boy**.» _Since_ _I don't want to see your bottom half, thank you very much_. «You want to join the group? Let's fight then, if you manage to beat me then you're in.»

Yoichi, in the background, half sighed and half laughed. «Karura-san, shouldn't be Yoh who-»

« _I said_.» Now my voice was deadly serious, just as Shiho taught me: it was the tone that didn't admit replies. «Beat me and you're in, Lyserg Diethel. Or is the determination to accomplish your objective not enough to make you fight?»

 _Oh my, his expression is the best now_. He dropped the good, friendly boy mask and went in full serious mode; smart one, he must have caught the meaning of my last phrase. I smirked, snapping my weapon to the ground while he took off his mantel.

«Hey, stop! Karura, calm down - you too, er...»

«My name is Lyserg Diethel, I'f fourteen and my specialty is dowsing.» he said loudly enough for everyone to hear, then he turned his full attention to me. «Now, do you mind telling me who you are and how you know my name?»

I didn't answer of course (I decided to be a complete Jackass towards him because, seriously, you ask to join a group and then without a word you go to the Fucker four-eyes? Nope, I don't like that nor I like _you_ ) and attacked him instead; Tsumizuki already possessing the weapon of my choice. He instantly created his Over Soul and sent his little fairy towards me, which I deviated with a snap of whip.

Why my weapon didn't break? It was a little trick Hanemasa taught me: to enhance your medium's resistance you may create a continuous flow of furyoku on its surface; this way you not only have a major damage but you are also able to deflect the other's mediums more easily.

He didn't seem to have predicted this since he took several steps back to evade the slashes I tried to hit him with; that's when I saw him calling back his pendulum to strike me from behind. I turned to hit and deviate that too, but to my surprise I only found the wires and not the crystal itself - it was already past me, meaning that I hadn0t been quick enough.

There were too many wires to be blocked. He managed to wrap them around my and torso. _Fuck-!_

And pain exploded like a firework in my upper limbs and body. It hurt, Heavens if it hurt: I could feel my skin rip under the pressure of the wire, exposing only the flesh underneath if I was fortunate. A scream escaped my lips as I fell to the ground.

«Uff, to think that she talked as if she was all that strong.» I heard the boy say in a disappointed tone.

 _Ah... Is that so...? You'll see now, you little shit._ I growled _. Tsumizuki!_

That was not something I should have done, I know, but remember what I said about pain? That I have a really, really, really low tolerance and that I don't take really well feeling it?

"Gotcha, master~!"

I unleashed a bit of her raw power against the green haired boy - a more, more powerful version of the "attack" to the old man after I woke up years and years ago, after my first spar with Yoichi -, successfully crashing the earth beneath him with the pressure alone. Now he looked a little less arrogant and more wary of me. _Finally!_

«What were you saying about being strong, child?» I asked sarcastically, feeling the familiar sensation of my spirit's presence entering my body. Tsumizuki took control shortly after and I felt her grin to the English boy. « _Shall we see how much power you've left?_ »

As Lyserg took a more careful stance, I sighed in my mind. _This is sooo not going to end well. Yoichi will give me an earful for sure._

* * *

 **So, yes: Lirirara gets to live and Karura actually fights against Lyserg.** **Nothing changes much, but who knows for the future?**

 **Please tell me what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10: Siblings I

**Hello everyone~!**

 ** _Important announcement_ : Since things are happening in real life and my free time will probably decrease, I'll have to slow down the updates.**

 **Hopefully I'll still load at least a new chapter per week at least...**

 **Again, thanks to everyone who reads, reviews or favourites/follows. You make me very happy!**

 **Now to the chapter, p** **lease enjoy!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

You know, the main disadvantage of having a spirit possessing your body and almost going berserk is that you, the shaman, may blank out for a certain amount of time due to the spiritual pressure and the emotional waves that hit you - and believe me, this is not so unusual when said spirit inundates your mind with its memories to distract you from controlling him/her.

That was basically the main hobby for a spirit like Tsumizuki ( _*coughs* and I still sucked at being a shaman sometimes *coughs*_ ).

«May I ask what the hell were you thinking back then?! You could have killed him if we didn't intervened!»

And remember the earful I said earlier? I was getting the end of it.

Yoichi had been reprimanding me for a while, like half an hour at least since my awakening in the hospital.

Long story short, once Tsumizuki wreaked havoc, she almost killed Lyserg and hurt Ren and Horo Horo - who were trying to stop her before Yoichi's intervention; I hoped they were not hurt as much as if they went against the dowsing boy, though - but thankfully Yoh and surprisingly Lirirara managed to keep her busy until Yoi-chan brought me back to my senses.

I took over again, much to Tsumizuki displeasure, but passed out shortly after because of the pain and the blood loss from Lyserg previous attack.

Thus, why we all ended up here in the hospital.

I heard Yoichi sigh, probably at the end of his talk. «I hope this serves you as a lesson for the future, Karura-san. Your spirit guardian is too unpredictable to let it loose.»

«Of course, it won't happen...» ... _any time soon, at least_.

So, with a gleeful materialized Tsumizuki, who finally had her moments of fun (thus was momentarily satisfied), I ushered him out so I could get changed. My former t-shirt and jeans were all tattered thanks to that green haired brat and I was still in hospital clothes, so I definitely needed to wear something more comfortable.

A few minutes later I was ready - sleeveless shirt, jeans and snickers on - and strolling pleasurably to the fast food-restaurant the boys went to a little earlier (someone left me a post-it with all the directions I needed thankfully). To my surprise, when I arrived I heard them speak about Hao - and I didn't really like what they were saying, but I kept this to myself.

 _Still it is quite the surprise here._

From what I understood in the short amount of time we spent together, they didn't really want to talk or hear about him (kinda feel like I know why, not only in Lirirara's case); however, now they were. I shrugged it off, taking the place near Ryu and across Ren and Yoichi after greeting the group and apologizing to the boys for the incident with my spirit. Thankfully, they didn't mind too much: Horo Horo just emphasized on the fact that my spirit and I were "friggin' scary at full power".

«I ordered you a soda and some sandwiches, are those alright?» My brown haired companion said once I was seated. I only nodded and took the food silently.

«I'm surprised...» Lyserg muttered after listening to everyone. «I thought I was the only one chasing after him. It cost me to only find his name.»

The Usui boy snorted and took another bite of his food. «Yeah, this isn't simple. I have no valid reasons but I've decided to follow this group.»

I threw a look at Ryu's face while he assured the younger boy and almost choked on my soda after seeing him wink. Horo Horo and Lyserg's faces where priceless! Turning around and trying to stifle my laughter, I kept my ears on the conversation.

«Thank you, everyone.» he said with honesty, before his expression darkened a bit. «But... something puzzles me. Why did Hao, who has only met Yoh once, insist for him to join his group?»

«It's not that strange, you know.» I butted in nonchalantly. «He did the same with Yoichi and me before leaving for America, for your information. He's looking for strong people after all.»

The revelation didn't have much impact on them. «Still... doesn't it puzzle you guys? If he saw the finals, he must know that Ren is as strong has Yoh. Until he killed my parents I figured he was trying to complete his team, which goes according to what Karura-san just said, but...»

The boy steeled his gaze on me after that, like he still had something to say - probably ask about my previous taunting - but finally decided against it. I smiled at him.

«Well, probably he's looking for something more specific than followers. What if he decided to have a few people that don't think exactly as he does?» I paused a bit, resting my chin on a hand. «Having someone to argue with sometimes is rejuvenating, you know.»

After that, Ren snorted. «This is only a feeling I have, but how comes that you seem to talk as you know him?»

Silence filled the group and I admit I didn't expect such a blunt question. However, that was not something I wanted to hide, but... maybe the time was not right?

«Well, I may have a little better understanding on him than all of you.» _And I try to not judge and label him as a murderous, pyromaniac psychopath as the majority of you all. He is all of that, but he also has his reasons to be._ «I'm not really close to him at the moment, but I'd like to. He probably still needs the company of his family after all.»

I said that so nonchalantly and matter-of-factly that it took a few second for the four oblivious youths to register. When they did, they went all screaming.

« ** _WHAT?!_** »

My smile didn't waver while Yoichi face-palmed. «In this life, Hao's my little brother.»

And with that the secret-not-so-secret was out.

* * *

Not so far from the restaurant, Yoh was talking with Amidamaru about the new additions to the group and the existence of reasons behind Hao's doings; he didn't know yet, but he shared the same opinion as Karura on the whole matter, even if he couldn't forgive him for taking innocent lives.

«Yoh-kun?»

The young boy slowly turned his head to the Seminoa girl. «Ah, Lirirara! Are you alright? It's the first time you travel, so maybe you're a little... unused?» he asked carefully, but she shook her head.

«Nothing like that, even if I'm a woman don't underestimate the Seminoa tribe.»

Yoh laughed sheepishly. «I didn't underestimate you, don't worry. Why don't you take a seat here? Today's the ideal day to relax!»

It was not an unheard occurrence that Yoh would take naps outside, especially when the sun was so bright in the sky and the air was refreshing. Seeing nothing wrong with that, she sat besides the young male and looked up at the blue sky.

«Yoh-kun, can I ask you something?» she said after a few moments of silence.

«Sure.»

The girl took a breath. «What do you think about Hao? Be honest, please.»

«Mh... Well, I don't like his way of doing things and I really can't forgive what he already did, but I also think that he may have some reasons to act like that.» he paused, gazing directly at a cloud passing by. Lirirara was now looking at him carefully. «Something severe may have happened to him in the past, I don't believe he was like that from the very beginning.»

The Seminoa woman stayed silent, remembering the talk she had with the other female on their departure: she said basically the same things Yoh just said, but looked like she knew even what precisely was going on.

 _"_ _He's hurt too, Lirirara, believe it or not. His own powers is his curse."_ She couldn't believe that Hao, the same person that killed heartlessly her ancestors and brethrens, was suffering as well; but the sorrowful look in Karura's eyes was so sincere... _"I'd like to help him, you now... to find some peace, even if just the tiniest bit."_

«I... I can't forgive him for what he has done either.» she said out loud; Yoh didn't answer. «However, I have to know why... why the Seminoa had to suffer this happenings by his hands.»

She needed it, for herself and her spirits.

The boy beside her hummed and nodded at her. «We'll help you with that, I promise.»

«...Thank you.»

Obliviously to them, a certain man was looking after the Asakura heir from a nearby tree. Hidden among the leaves and branches, Mikihisa stared warily at his last son with concern: Yoh had been approached by Hao and he was currently travelling with Karura. Those two were dangerous companies for him, the man thought.

It looked like the plan of him avoiding his older siblings altogether didn't work out well: he, Keiko, Kino and Yohmei had decided to never tell Yoh about them for a reason - namely, that Hao was a threat that he would eventually face and have to kill and that Karura nearly managed to kill the old man because of an argument about Hao himself.

She defended **him** , of all people!

Mikihisa considered the possibility that his firstborn was a reincarnation of someone from Hao's past lives; she seemed to know a lot about his doings but still didn't have any negative feelings towards him, hence the idea was not so impossible.

However, if that was the case then he would have to... stop her before she could ally with the millenary shaman.

So, he tried to kill her - before she could understand, before the Tamashimi came to take her back with them, before she became stronger - but failed, just as Yohmei did with Hao; he managed to hurt her badly, but with a trick she escaped from him.

Fifteen years passed before he found her again and alone, but it was already late: she got far more powerful and was always with Yoichi, or Shiho, or Hanemasa - Mikihisa didn't want to create tension between the families and kindly demanded that his daughter back, but much to his stupor they refused.

He thought to retrieve her through law too, the Asakuras were still her legal guardians, but the mistress of the Tamashimi household threatened him against it.

 _You try to send the authorities to our home and I'll show them the bruises you gave her. And shall I remember the attempt on your second son's life?_ Karura told them, he realized, and it hurt to think that his daughter trusted some stranger more than her own family. _One word from the child and you will all end up in more trouble than it's worth and probably lose your last son too. Is this what you want, Mikihisa-dono?_

So that was it.

He and his family stayed away from the Tamashimi estate and Karura's life from the time being, only focusing on Yoh's life and training. And _of course_ none of them ever told him that he had two other siblings.

 _But if she tells him everything now_... If that happened, he didn't know how Yoh would react.

He needed to report to Yohmei on this, soon.

* * *

 _Everything that happened after that followed perfectly the story - Horo Horo getting lost, the rest of the group having to wait for him -, hence we should concentrate on what Fate had for them later._

 _Mesa Veldede was the next stage and they were the actors._

* * *

After reuniting with our little lost Usui at a fast food in Diringo City, our little group left to our final destination: Mesa Veldede, the place where - according to Liririara - the Patch Village was located.

Now you may be wondering why, after my sudden revelation of siblinghood, I was still allowed to stay in our little party. I suspect it was to keep an eye on me closely (since I might have been considered a source of information about Hao and/or a possible spy) and to prevent me from "joining my brother's side" (which was a little ironic, I already did in a sense).

Thus here I was. What really surprised me though was the fact that Yoh didn't have much against me being still here, as if he didn't mind my possible association with the future king. Not that I was complaining or anything, of course.

So, we took a bus from Diringo straight to Mesa Veldede, an ancient site - and a tourist attraction for many people - where all the houses looked terribly alike, the only difference noticeable in height. _It will be like walking in a maze once we get in there_. Hopefully we wouldn't get lost.

«Isn't it strange that the place we're looking for is so... in plain sight?» Horo Horo asked out of the blue while we were walking among the ruined buildings.

«Nah, not really. It's supposed to be a secret place and all, but honestly, which shaman would ever considered a place like this to be the passage for the Patch Village if he or she had no hints? It's quite difficult to point out, right Lirirara?»

She nodded with a small smile. «You're right. It's a pretty smart idea, hiding something in plain sight...»

The eight of us kept busy with small talk and whatsoever (even if Ren always answered with monosyllables; seriously, the guy rivaled with Lirirara sometimes!), until we arrived to a point where the access was limited: the big, yellow sign with "KEEP OUT" written on it was quite the warning. To me, however, was the notice that we were on the right path.

«Shall we continue?» Lyserg asked.

«I think... I think it's here, the entrance for the Patch Village...»

Yoichi took a step ahead. «I sense a strong source of power from there, even if it seems far, far away.»

«Then it's decided!»

«Hey, you there!» We all turned around to meet five pairs of eyes; Hao's henchmen. «For conservation reasons the access is limited to those with a group pass. If you really want to go through, then we may go all together, right?»

Now, I didn't really remembered their names (Boris being the only exception and you'll soon know why) but I knew that their objective was basically killing everyone off, saving Yoh of course. I reflexively positioned myself between them an Lirirara, fearing that she'd be the first one who would be targeted.

 _Mmh, I wonder if he told them to kill Yoichi and me too_. I considered; my mind closed off the current conversation - basically Ren recognizing the men, Lyserg almost going and bite their heads off and Yoh fortunately stopping him and inquiring about their motives - as I looked around to find the exact spot where Boris would be thrown to later in the battle. _It was somewhere rather high on the right..._

«... You look exactly like him. The resemblance with your great ancestor, our Lord Hao, is unbelievable.»

«Master Yoh...»

«A descendant of Hao...»

... _Or maybe it was on the left? Argh, hell! I can't remember well!_

«Bullshit!»

«I'm confused!»

«To hell with this Hao guy.»

«No... if it's the man from Lilirara's vision it's possible he _is_ a descendant...»

A large vein popped up on my forehead as I finally snapped, not enjoying the chaos a little bit. «Do you _really_ have to be this loud? There's someone who's trying to concentrate here!»

Silence filled the area for a second and all eyes were suddenly on me. _...Why I have a bad feeling about this?_

Then Horo Horo seemed to recover from the strange atmosphere. «Right! Karura, you said you're his sister, right?» Ignoring the loud gasps and later murmuring from the five-people group, I nodded at him. «Then maybe can you explain what the hell is going on here!»

I paused, sighing and putting both my hands on my hips with a scowl on my face. _Mmh, now should I...? Well, there's no point hiding it since that genius gave the hint._

«Well, they said the truth. In his first life, Hao was known as the great onmyoji _Asakura_ _Hao_.» I obviously remarked on the family name. «He became the head of the family and founded a school for shamans where he taught too, those techniques has been passed down from a generation to another aftermath. _Dooown_ , down until the current one. Namely you, Yoh.» I ended my little monologue facing my brother, who was just as stunned as the rest of the group. «Ah, there's also a little bit of information that you should know, but I'll tell you in private later, okay?»

While the five recovered from the latest news, Yoichi approached me. «Karura-san, dou you think it was a wise decision to tell them now?» he whispered at my ear, eying the teens with a worried look.

«They need to know, Yoichi. Since that stupid father of his didn't tell him a thing about Hao I might as well fill him in completely later.» ...Or not, I wasn't really sure about this.

«Uhm, excuse me.» Hao's henchman, the one who did all the talking until now, called. «Is it true? You're master Hao's sister?»

I sighed. Why did I have to repeat myself? «I am, at least in this life. We're born from the same mother and father, but other than that we have no connections. We only spoke once actually, do you mind telling how's he doing?»

«He's... fine?» the Chinese giant told hesitantly. His companions sent him a glare with no particular reason while I smiled at him.

«Great, he never shows up around here so I was worried. Thank you!»

"They're looking at you as you were just escaped a mental clinic." My spirit noted half amusedly and half mocking. "How is it that you have this power to astonish people simply my opening your mouth?"

 _If it's of any comfort you should achieve the same result by keeping yours shut._

"Touchè~"

After that little exchange, that might have lasted a bit longer than planned, I heard only the end of the white clothed man muttering something like "minimal resemblance with master Hao" - _well excuse me for having a lighter shade of hair, jackass_ \- and "needing to ask him first".

He cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention again. «In any case, we have a mission to accomplish.»

«Mission?» Horo Horo asked, suddenly warier than ever.

«Orders are to give master Yoh some secret information and to exterminate his four companions. Those are master Hao's orders.»

A second later, Boris apparently sank his teeth into Lyserg's neck, like a real vampire. That move enraged to no limit Ryu, which however found himself with a brand new hair cut thanks to the eccentric Romanian man.

«Aah, humans... so simple, so fragile... without a doubt, I choose Elvis here as opponent.» he said in an half serious, half dreaming way. «Let me introduce us. This is my spirit, Blamuro. He was a vampire slayer.» As he said that the phantom appeared behind him, looking not so healthy even for a ghost. «My name is Boris Tepes Dracula and I am a vampire.»

While Ryu was still out cold from the shock of the haircut, the others panicked after the self proclaimed vampire; Yoh, dear Yoh, promptly believed him (and I think he has some issues with vampires seeing his exaggerated reaction) while Ren and Horo Horo basically called him an impostor.

«You don't even look like Dracula! That guy does!» the young Usui noted, pointing to the other man in dark clothes. _Don... Daj... shit, I'm almost there with the name- Ah! Damayaji!_

And after this phrase, Boris began to wave and act strangely, making even Yoh worried about him. Oh man, he even started to cry!

«What are you saying, Horo? It's crystal clear that Boris is a _descendant_ of Dracula!» I defended the blonde, much to everyone's surprise. «You know, Dracula - or Vlad Tepes if you prefer - has always been represented as a heartless man, but he was still an elegant noble! No offense, but that man doesn't have the looks of an aristocrat. Boris does instead, so cut the crap and give the guy some acknowledgement!»

That intervention seemed to do the trick to calm Boris down, but now he looked at me as I grew a second head. I stood there motionless, only flashing him a brief supporting smile before pouting at Ren, who said something about "idiots who fell for such stupidity"; it was not stupid! The poor man needed some comfort too, for Christ's sake!

However, I had to bring my attention back to the blonde vampire when I felt a leather-gloved hand taking my own. «I'm moved to no end by your kind words. To think I was able to meet a lady with such a noble heart... You're undoubtedly master Hao's sister.» And he kneeled before me, placing a light kiss on the back of my hand.

 _...What_. I blinked a few times. «Err...Thank you?»

«Enough with that!» an uncharacteristically pissed Yoichi screamed at the vampire. I turned and looked at him: oh God, was he going in berserk? Now, of all times, and for something as trivial as _this_?

(and with _this_ I mean Boris being polite and dandy)

«However!» I jumped visibly at the blonde's resumption. «I can't let someone compare me to such a low life.»

 _Oh snap. He's going to do_ it _anyway_.

Tsumizuki rolled with laughter in my mind. "Did you really expect any better from the ones you stick around to~? Your fiancée is basically a rather jealous and bipolar guy-"

 _He manages just_ fine. _And he's a_ friend _, not my fiancée._

"-and you plan adding the source of said jealousy, who's the most dramatic man I've ever seen by the way, to the party." She continued as if my correction hadn't even been noticed.

I snorted. _Worse than Faust?_

"...They're not even comparable, master."

I rolled my eyes, cutting off the discussion. _Well, I shouldn't really be astonished now._

I _did_ have the tendency to keep only the craziest people, after all.

* * *

 **Guess what will happen with Boris and the X-Laws.**

 **Please review~**


	11. Chapter 11: Vampire stories

**Hi there!**

 **I'm back and I'm sorry for the lateness of this chapter. Among other things that happened, I was - and am still - not really satisfied of how this turned out...**

 **Please tell me how you feel about it via MP or review, I'd appreciate that a lot!**

 **Now to the new chapter, enjoy!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

«Who do you think will win again?»

«Why, Boris of course.»

«Psh, please. Can't you see that Ryu's clearly going to win?»

«Hah! Wanna bet, lady?»

«Bring it on!»

This was the friendly conversation that the big Chinese panda-guy, Damayaji and me. Now you may be asking yourself how is it possible for him to be still alive - and well, just know that I had to do a lot of talking with the vampire to keep him from committing homicide and causing a commotion among the other visitors.

And when I say _a lot_ I mean A LOT.

 _At least their team will be able to compete in the Shaman Fight._

By the way, while we were friendly chatting, Ryu fought against Boris and was _clearly_ winning, Lyserg was controlled by Blamuro and kept Yoh (and Yoichi, lol) in his grip - and of course those two were too kind to try to break free and risk to hurt the green haired boy. Lilirara stayed back with Horo Horo and Ren for a while, before they too joined the fight.

There was also a bit of explanation on the spirits classes, namely the seirei class, from the talkative man from Hao's henchmen, after which Boris started to fly around. Shortly after that, Ryu blocked again the vampire's attack with his bloody wings that, once shattered, turned into vampire bats (they still looked like small, black pigs with wings to me, but still...).

"I must say..." Tsumizuki commented lightly, tapping her chin with a finger. "That your Elvis friend here is quite skillful even in he's about to faint for blood loss. His hairy Over Soul comes quite handy to block multiple attacks. It reminds me of my beloved wires, aah how I miss those times~"

I rolled my eyes, slightly amused by the fact that she actually complimented a samurai; she terribly loathed them just as much as I loathed the assholes in white - which reminded me...

 _Oh God, they're going to arrive soon. I just can't, I know I just-_

"Maaasteeer, you're spacing out again~ And your little friend there is getting all frustrated again."

I looked in Lyserg's direction, noticing that Yoi-chan's expression was becoming rather... annoyed.

 **Shrug** _. Psh, Yoichi won't risk to hurt Lyserg even if he had the occasion to break free_.

He was a good guy and seemed to have taken a liking to the little boy too, probably because of his sorrowful past.

Yoichi was similar to me in this sense, however we had... differences in choosing sides: his fear and despise for Hao were a little too much in my opinion, even after I explained him that my brother definitely had his reasons to act like this - without tell him everything. I didn't want to because it felt like... betraying Hao.

Stupid thought probably, but whatever.

On the other hand, even if I was afraid of his power too, my case was a bit different. I didn't want to leave Hao alone. I wanted show him that at least a part of his family didn't want him dead. I wanted to show him affection, not reverence.

«I hate humans! This is why I obey master Hao! He has reasons to create a world without humans!» Boris' shout brought me back to the present.

 _Oh, we're still at this point? Daaamn, so slow!_ I sighed impatiently, watching the other four henchmen taking the route to the Patch Village.

«At the estate he's in now, even I can't stop him. I don't want to get mixed up with this, let's go report.» the Mo-something guy (I definitely had problems with names) said, before facing Yoh. «Master Yoh, you won't understand... Winning against Boris won't change a thing. You still have to defeat us after him.»

And they vanished like this.

Cool acting, I must say.

«That way goes to the Patch Village... Umph, this is exciting.» Ren grinned at the idea. «The only thing we have to do is defeat this monster. If not, we can't continue.»

Meanwhile, Ryu managed to get back to his feet. «Don't worry, give me ten minutes...»

He looked really like he was going to pass out soon; however, I already knew he would win before giving in to his exhaustion. Boris, in any case, mocked him.

«Really? After your blood was sucked, you can still stand?»

«That's not the point... You hurt a friend of mine, you have to pay! But... even if you're a monster, you're also a man so I can't let this go.» the Elvis-wannabe said shakily. «I feel... that you have the same scent as me. Hated by your friends, you don't have a place to go and so you're always alone... you have the feeling of sadness within you!»

"Oh? He's more emphatic than I thought."

 _It surprise me that you actually know the meaning of empathy_.

«Is he going to be alright...?» Lirirara asked after approaching me, looking rather worried for the black haired man. «Maybe with my spirits-»

«Have faith in him, Lirirara. This is a men's fight, what would he think if you just butted in to help him now?»

My answer didn't make her any more comfortable; I sighed to myself. _I'm definitely not good with this kind of things._

"No, you're not~"

Despite the good intentions from Ryu's talk, Boris didn't take it too well. «Who do you take me for?! Me, like you? Bah! That's a low blow, you filthy human!»

«Not actually _that_ low, Boris.» I chided him before he could attack again, choosing my words carefully this time; as manipulative as may sound, my only objective was making him a little more... reasonable.

«Everyone feels emotions, it's not that strange or insulting if you feel the same thing that someone else feels, you know? It simply makes you alive. You probably have quite a story behind you, which is why you're this angry with the world. Mind sharing with the rest of the class?»

He stayed silent for a few moments, probably gathering his own thoughts (or deciding if my words were just insulting or something, since I almost talked like he was a child), before talking again.

«You're correct... My ancestor, Dracula, was actually human. And not only that, he protected the country by defeating the enemy. He was a hero. But those pathetic, weak hearted humans were jealous! That's why they called him a vampire and killed him!»

* * *

So... history never appealed Karura too much, neither in the past nor the current life of hers. However, she listened gull attention to the story of the self proclaimed vampire - the story of a man which family was condemned by humanity due to fear, envy and ungratefulness.

Vlad Tepes was a grim, vicious man, but a hero nonetheless.

However, he was labeled as a murderer when the war time passed by. The Savior became the Threat and as such was dealt with.

And the ones that carried the burdens of such a change were his sons and daughters: his descendants were considered bloodthirsty vampires and executed or forced to leave the country. All happened for a mass belief in which they, the Tepes, were the enemy, the heresy, the menace.

Karura loathed either ungratefulness and hypocrisy, especially the latter, that's why she didn't blame that man for what he had done for the sake of his personal revenge.

It was different from Lyserg, because he - Boris - was not a "thankless little shit" who gave the cold shoulder to his companions: he stayed loyal to the side he chose and didn't forget what his savior had done for him.

She liked this.

Hence she didn't stop him from his impaling punishment: she liked him and wanted to help him understand something. He had to be beaten up by Ryu to realize that he was still weak, that it was simply stupid to fight _alone_ ; he had to see that there was still someone who wanted to befriend him despite his doings - someone had to go and make him see that not every _human_ was that despicable.

He had to be saved.

There was still hope for him.

* * *

The fight ended with an obvious win for Ryu and a painful hit for Boris. I hoped his wounds were not too serious, it would be a pain to heal them up in an useful amount of time.

This, however, would have to wait now: he'd have to be alive before we thought about healing him up.

«Yoh, what are you doing?! It's dangerous, he's still alive!»

«I want to ask him about Hao and about himself.»

I took in a long breath and prepared myself for what would came in a few moments. _Tsumizuki, are you ready?_

"Aye sir~!" she chirped happily as I began pouring a large amount of furyoku in my secondary weapon: a pair of gloves-bracers similar to the ones Tsumizuki used in her previous life's occupation; they hid thin, metal wires that she manipulated to wrap them around her victims.

«Don't go, master Yoh!»

I planted my feet on the ground, steadying myself. _Breath in, breath out - it's going to be alright._

«No. If we don't care for him he might die, then we'd be no different from a killer. And besides...» Yoh had reached the top of the high ground and was now facing Boris. «If he dies now, Ryu's efforts will be for nothing.»

 _NOW!_

 **BANG!**

Before the sword of light could hit the blonde vampire, a multitude of threads wrapped around the infamous archangel and halted its run. I almost lost my balance due to the force it had, but enhancing my legs with a load of furyoku I managed to keep it in place nonetheless.

... _I thought it would be stronger than this...?_

"That's just how awesome I am~" my spirit decided.

And of course fifteen years of training on my part didn't count a thing, right.

«What is this?!» someone cried out after recovering from the stupor.

And then my worst enemy appeared.

«His name is Michael. It's my special spirit which carried the punishing sword that will sentence all evil.»

Marco Lasso and his stupid glasses. _Ehw_.

«I am surprised that someone has been able to stop him, but this won't happen a second time.»

As he finished his little speech, he ordered his spirit to retreat; my wires retracted too, but I knew it was long from the end: they, the X-Laws, were there to "punish" Boris and probably even Hao's other henchmen.

The simple thought of them killing in the name of a false justice made me sick.

I took a fighting stance but before the Jackass could attack again, however-

«Wait, don't fight! We're not enemies, so please lower your gun.»

Yoichi managed to have all the attention on him; almost at least: Marco was still glaring at me menacingly since I prevented him from "punish the evil" while I was glaring at him with murderous intents because I hated _him_ and all _the shit_ he represented.

Everyone paused; the Tamashimi heir took the hint and continued. «Your objective is not this, right? I mean... fighting now wouldn't bring any advantage to you nor us.»

The leader of the X-Laws then spared him a glance, still serious but not so hostile towards him.

«Our focus is undoubtedly not taking on fellow shamans, but this changes when we meet followers of the root of all evil.»

 _Isn't he meaning himself too, then? He should commit suicide then, the world would be a better place for sure_.

Tsumizuki laughed heartedly. "You're so heartless around him, I'm almost falling for you in this moment~"

Everyone - _sans me and Yoichi_ \- looked a bit confused at that answer. Yoh voiced the thought. «Uh... What do you mean with that? What's the root of all evil?»

«He means Hao.» Yoichi clarified, making the green haired boy gasp.

Lyserg looked very much taken aback. «They too know about his past?»

The blonde four-eyes then wore his nice-and-holy façade.

«Of course we know about him, he has appeared in history a few times. Not mentioning the Patch Tribe, over 80% if the contestants are related to Hao in some way.» he explained calmly. «The reason why we came here is because our teammates heard that five of Hao's lackeys are here, but relax.»

He smiled before concluding. «I, Marco, Captain of the Angel Team will be your friend.»

 _I think I'm going to puke. He makes Edward Cullen **pale** with all that sparkling in the background._

«However, there's something I must ask before doing anything.»

The _holier-than-thou_ captain turned once back to Boris, which Yoh helped to climb down that height, with a meaningful glance. I immediately stepped between, standing near them.

«...so it was as I thought. You're blatantly shielding Haos henchman. Why, are you one of Hao's followers too?»

«I'm not.»

«Then why you are helping one of his lackeys?»

 _None of your f-cking business_. I raised an eyebrow. «I've taking a liking to him and his story. Therefore, you won't kill him.»

The tension was very high, everyone could tell, as I kept my ground against the pompous asshole.

What happened a moment later, however, nobody could have ever expected: a sea of flames appeared out of nowhere and engulfed the entire area - strangely without hurting a single soul of my group - just before a giant red hand grabbed Boris.

Panic flowed into me like a tsunami, but not as much as the moment when the same thing happened to me (this was _**not** supposed_ to happen, Hao helping us was so not in the plans!).

I think I heard shouting from Yoh and the others and an amused snicker before a hollowing feeling hit me like a train.

 _Well, the heck now?_

* * *

 ** _And at the end, the biggest spirit that only the Shaman King can possess..._**

* * *

«Hey Mrs Laziness! Are you free this Sunday? We're planning on a hike, Max and me are taking the dogs along.»

A laughter before a pause. «Mmh, why not? It's not like I'm that lazy...»

«Well, you only are when you have to study for upcoming exams.»

«Oh shut up!»

Laughs filled the air before the scenery changed.

Blue lights flashing, a deafening sound and voices. Lots and lots of confused or hurried voices. A beeping sound becoming a stilled.

Someone screamed in sorrow. Someone - a blonde woman - was crying in the arms of dark haired man; she was the one that let out that scream.

Sadness, sorrow, regret. "Mother... Father... I'm so... so sorry..."

Blackness took everything away.

* * *

«Don't make me waste my time, young lady! Put some effort in and stop whining! Again!»

The small frame of a young girl slowly raised up from the muddy ground with the help of her arms, fatigue clear on her face. It was raining on the woods and the droplets touched every single centimeter of the forest, leaves and grass and rocks alike. An older woman stood not far away, an umbrella in her hands and a fierce scowl on her face.

«I-I'm ready...» the little one panted out, strengthen her grip on the wooden sword she was given.

Suddenly a bust of wind hit her from ahead, unbalancing her and sending her flat on her back again; new cuts appeared on her skin, on arms and legs alike. The woman let out an irritated sigh. «Tsk, if you can't even deflect a simple breeze you'll never control your furyoku, nor spirit! Again!»

The scene repeated itself.

Once. «Again.»

Twice. «Again!»

Thrice... « **Again**!»

They began in the early afternoon and didn't stop until evening.

* * *

 _Once upon a time, there was a far away land where a young boy lived alone. He had no friends nor family, for he had been left behind by everyone._

 _He then met a man - his savior - who treated him gently, gave him everything he needed to survive and taught him more and more things. The boy began slowly to look up at him, to wish for the man to acknowledge his efforts and abilities, which became stronger as the time passed._

 _For the first time in his life, the boy had a reason to continue his life._

 _However, one day the kind man betrayed the boy's trust. That was a despicable, selfish being to begin with, a creature that only desired power and notoriety. He ended up to be the cause of the boy's final despair and death._

 _No one ever cried for them._

* * *

«What in the Heaven's name are you saying?! It's your duty as an Asakura, you must fight that devil!»

Angry shouts were heard in the afternoon. Five shadows lingered in a closed space; a house, a room - a familiar room with familiar faces.

«He's not a devil, you ignorant idiot! He's human as you are but you're so blinded by your own fear and prejudice that you can't see it!»

 **SLAP!** «Don't talk to your grandfather like that. Have some respect for family elders.»

«I never considered him, neither you, as my family...» she seethed angrily. «He could have managed to kill two newborns and you wouldn't have cared! You are the monster here, not Hao!»

«Karura, please... stop saying things like these!»

«This child is crazy, Mikihisa.»

«Either that or she has been subjugated by Hao's will two months ago.»

Indignation.

«You forget that you must thank him for everything you have now!»

They wouldn't listen, she knew. Those stupid, ungrateful fools... She despised them very much; not because they didn't accept her vision, but rather because they didn't acknowledged their ancestor's merits.

It's sad when such men are only remembered for their mistakes and not for their greatest achievements.

"Thus, we shall deliver punishment to them~"

An apparently innocent suggestion, which had been accepted with frightening speed.

 **They have to pay...**

And suddenly everything was dyed in crimson.

* * *

Two people stood in the middle of a greenery plain. It was already late in the night, but neither of them seemed affected by that; rather, they looked at each other in a positively calm way.

«I believe you know why I am here, right?» the first one, a man with long, dark hair kept bound in a low tail, said in a friendly tone. The other, a young girl in her early twenties, simply nodded while mirroring his smile. «Then, we can begin. My name is Thalim by the way, nice to meet you.»

She grinned friendly. «The pleasure is mine! Err, I think you already know but my name is Karura. Please go easy on me.»

«Ahah, why now... If this is a test then you have to put some effort in it, don't you?»

«Mmmh, guess you're right then.» The smile didn't fade from her eyes. «Let's begin!»

They both formed their Over Souls immediately. The girl new better than to attack him from ahead since he had so many tricks up his sleeve; plants and nature manipulation was that awesome after all.

* * *

 _Everything is part of destiny._

 _Destiny - the path of this world, of all his living entities, of all souls that dwell in it - is something unchangeable. Some creatures may be able to see how this path stretches before their eyes, but it's incorrect to think that that knowledge can bring effective changes._

 _That knowledge can only bring false hopes and illusions. If you truly devotes yourself to observing the world you're in, you'll be able to understand its rules and paths, thus come to the only possible conclusion._

 _In the long run all the pieces fall into their prearranged place, that's how destiny works._

 _It doesn't like that someone tries to change what it has already decided, even if it is a God's desire._

 _But, strangely enough, it still allows to these curious creatures to live and think - incorrectly - that they can change their fate._

 _Why, you may ask?_

 _Well, it's up to you to come up with an answer. Be it that destiny loves to play with their puppets or something that is already prearranged by another Being higher than it._

* * *

«What, this is my opponent? What a letdown, I hoped for something more entertaining this time.»

A cloud of smoke left the blue haired shaman's lips as she said that. Much to her disappointment, her adversary didn't react to her taunting: she merely kept smiling nonchalantly, looking rather dumb in her opinion. "Well," she thought, "better for me. It's just another dumbass to defeat and then I'll be officially in the second stage."

Once the fight began, though, the friendly grin was wiped off the girl's face only to be replaced by an half daring half cocky smile. She had the rights to do that, though: the match lasted ten minutes at last and the blue haired woman was forced to surrender after having herself beaten up and her medium turned into slices.

Then, the other girl turned friendly again. «I'm sorry for your armor, I didn't plan on that. My spirit got a bit out of control then...» Ah, the boldness! She even offered her a hand to get back to her feet.

The blue haired girl refused, of course.

«Well, see you later then, Kanna.» the brunette said happily. «Take care and... Please, say hi to your master for me, will you?»

Kanna was stunned for a few moments after that phrase, long enough to hear the officiant acknowledge that girl's victory and her joyful shout. She turned quickly to ask the many questions her mind was now filled in, to find only the dim light of the moon, illuminating the stage of the match.

* * *

"My name is Asanoha Douji and I lived a thousand years ago in Japan's Heian Era."

Long blonde hair, brown warm eyes, fair skin. A pale kimono with a tight, bright red obi; the same color of the ribbon that held her hair in place. A worn out house at the limits of the woods, in a plain with high ad green grass.

Then, another figure - tinier, different from her. They shared the same skin and eye color, but the smaller one's hair were a dark shade of brown. There was happiness between them, those smiles were the proof.

"Please, force some common sense in his head for once..."

It didn't last long.

 _Sorrow, distrust, hatehate **hateHATE-**_

Such feelings were so strong and overwhelming that she almost fainted. She should accept them nonetheless, accept and understand. This was what she asked.

 _She wouldn't disappoint her, she promised._

"Welcome to this world, my little treasure. Your name will be... Asaha."

She remembered then. Asaha Douji.

 _Hao's real name._

* * *

 ** _The moment when they will receive the Great Spirit's benediction._**

* * *

 **The last part may be a bit confusing, but it's meant to be: those are either memories or some kind of strange knowledge from the Great Spirit.**

 **Please tell me what you think about the chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12: Days in the athletes village

**Hiii everyone!**

 **Yes, I'm late, and yes, I'm extremely sorry. Life here's getting a bit busy and even if it's summer there are still things that need to be taken care of.**

 **So yeah, update dates will be uncertain. Again, I apologize.**

 **But this aside, this chapter took an awful long time to be finished: there's a kind-of turning point between Karura and Hao, so I wanted to do things right. I hope he doesn't sound too much out of character- well, I hope you enjoy this anyway.**

 **As always, thanks to everyone for reading/following/put the story in the favorites!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

My consciousness came back suddenly and I found myself stare at a dark wooden ceiling. And despite the mind wrecking experience named "King Spirit's Blessing", my mind was focused on one thing only.

«Sweet hell, she was his mother! How? How can I have been this _stupid_ all along?!»

I knew I just had to remember her and I felt so dumb for not noticing before: the insults list again myself went on and on as I caught up with many things Asano-san said to me in that instant; being reborn, try to put some sense in him - Jesus Christ, she was talking about her son!

(Asanoha wanted me to help her son in her stead, so he might become a... more accepting god and probably don't bring the world we know to an end; it didn't hit me in that moment, but I totally freaked out when it did)

And speaking of the devil...

«Good morning.»

I jumped out of the bed upon hearing that voice, landing ungracefully with my butt on the floor. Its owner, on the other hand, looked perfectly entertained by this reaction; I obviously _wasn't_ , not a bit.

 _This is the f-cking second time! Two of two!_ Taking a deep, deep breath to calm down, I glanced oh-not-so-amusedly at the smirking teen that sat on the windowsill. «Do you really have to make an appearance out of nowhere every single time?»

«I was here from the start, you simply didn't notice me.» he replied, still smiling as if nothing was wrong.

I frowned. «Excuse me if I was out cold, thanks to the _Goddam_ \- err, I mean, the Spirit King's blessing, of course I wouldn't know that you're here.»

Okay, remember the promise Shiho made about correcting my swearing-out-loud tendencies? Well, she did.

Every time I cursed out loud she would use one of her lovely spirits to give me a "little electroshock" as she called it. How bad was it? Well, let's put it in this way: thunders have become my trauma for a reason.

I shivered at the memory and then I heard Hao chuckle. «It must have been traumatizing. The Tamashimi's wife is scarier than Anna.»

«Right? And you'd think that she is the worst you may find in that sense... Ah, how's your cheek by the way?»

He showed me nonchalantly; there was only a tiny red mark. «Healing just fine. It didn't need to enhance the process.» I nodded in response, sitting with my back against the wall and looking at him.

You know, the strangest thing was that Hao probably already knew that I was not a regular shaman - nor a regular soul, generally speaking - but he didn't pry for information. That and his presence was quite comfortable, even in silence.

(probably the presence of Spirit of Fire would have made him look scarier)

«Do you think that without my spirit I'm not fearsome enough?»

«Nope, you don't.»

 _Bluntness is the key, right?_ I smirked lightly, before remembering to carefully shield a good share of my thoughts from him.

He probably had seen the visions from the contact with the Spirit King if he was here the whole time however he couldn't know everything about me and my great plans, right? He didn't understand everything that went on in my mind a few minutes before, since it was a big fat mess of lines of thoughts in there, right?

 _If all that training with Hanemasa-san had been in vain, I'm going to throw myself out of the window._

«For your information, I saw a few scenes of your past. But I can also tell what your thoughts are by reading your expression, not only your mind.» he confirmed bluntly. I cringed, but should have expected no less from him.

The fact that he didn't comment on the last of my thoughts - and judging from the slightly disappointed look on his face - probably meant that his _reishi_ wasn't properly working. In any case, he smiled a few moments after like he always did and like that he spoke again.

«Mmh... I suppose I must thank you for defending Boris and for thinking about me as family, right?»

To be honest, that didn't sound too sincere, more sarcastic if anything. Not that I blamed him for this: his trust had been shattered too many times in the past that I was surprised he could still _care_ for someone at all. The fact that someone cared for him probably was a bit... confusing? Unexpected? Suspicious for sure.

I shrugged. «It's not like you have to, if you don't feel like it.»

«Oh? And here I thought that you would rub it in my face.»

«Psh please, don't compare me to the average person, it's offending.» I joked, rolling my eyes. «And remember that you basically saved me from Snow White, it's me that should be grateful.»

Hao laughed, maybe amused by the nickname I used. «Then you can pay off your debt by telling me about your ability and why I found the name Asanoha in your thoughts a while ago.»

I paused, cringing a bit inside: I lowered my guard for a minute and here he is, questioning about that. My mind searched for a way to escape the question since I wasn't really ready to face this talk, but found none.

«There's no way out of this, mh?»

«Nope, not if you don't answer.»

 _Well, nothing can be done_. I sighed mentally and paused for a few moments to gather my thoughts.

«It's... a bit complicated... but I know a lot of things about this world and about you specifically. You can see it as a clairvoyance ability of sorts, even if it's not really that. The Tamashimi know about this and most of the things I know, however I'm the only one who actually knows about your mother Asanoha and Ohachiyo. It didn't seem a piece of information that you'd have publicly known.»

 _Because his first life was something too personal for others to know_.

He kept silent forever about it, not trusting anyone to tell, but now he had someone he almost didn't know that was aware about his past happenings he so wanted to hide. It's not like it was my fault that I knew, but... It didn't feel right, okay?

I saw him flinch upon the mentioning of his two most important people and for a moment I feared that he would attack me. Instead, he only sighed. «...I see.»

A strange, wary silence downed in the room and a rather, until...

«... She... she always worried about you, Hao.» I said, apparently out of nowhere.

He'd probably be pissed at me for real because I knew too much, but I had this feeling that... he _needed_ this now: to know that his mother cared about him and still loved him, even after all he had done, to the extent to send someone to look out for him (even if he was strong enough to protect himself, of course). «Well... it might be just a small thing hearing this from me, but-»

A pair of deep brown eyes stilled on me; there was a strange glint there, a dangerous one and a strange one. More... _longing_. He jumped down from the windowsill and the next thing I knew was that his hand was at my throat.

«Give me one reason to spare your life. I don't believe you didn't tell anyone about them. I don't believe you, _an_ _Asakura_ , don't have a motive to act this friendly towards me. Isn't it your mission, to erase the evil onmyouji from this world? Sure enough you, as the first born, should be the one doing that... but still it's really _low_ of you all to use _them_ as a way to get closer to me.» he seethed at a few centimeters from my face, threateningly.

Of course he was angered and to be honest I was practically scared as hell: he could kill me in any moment. But something, like a little spark of courage and something else in my mind, helped me to answer. I wasn't really worried for the courage part, which I was grateful for, but for the 'something else': it was scarily similar to what I felt when the Asakuras told me about the engagement.

«...You know what? Fine. _FINE_.» I began, irritation pooling inside of me rapidly. I put my right hand on his wrist, gripping it firmly. «Think what you want about me, I don't give a fuck if you see me as a traitor or something, because we both know that you'd kill anyone who endangers your great plan to become Shaman King and to destroy humanity. I'm no threat to you in that sense, so will you _please_ drop the vengeful act and see that there's still someone who TRULY WANTS TO BE YOUR FAMILY?!» I paused a second to catch my breath; ranting no-stop needs that after a while. «And don't fucking say that you don't miss that, because you wouldn't be like this on the mention of Asanoha and Ohachiyo. And you wouldn't have saved and named Opacho after him if you didn't!»

His eyes widened and his grip tightened a bit after that. The room feel silent.

I must say I felt really, really better. I acted fine and nice most of the time, but I hated to see that my efforts didn't give a single positive result; and that happened a lot in my past life, so I had all the time to hate the feeling and become frustrated a little too easily at times.

My angered mind raced from the thought of " _what have I said, I didn't plan on that_ " and " _he's gonna kill me for sure now_ " and " _I didn't even get to talk to Yoh and play videogames with him, I really wanted to do that_ " (fun fact: during my ramblings I let the mental 'shield' down and Hao was probably reading all the silly thoughts I was having; he didn't comment on that and I didn't realize until later).

«...You truly met her then.» was the only thing Hao said after a while. I blinked in surprise. «She trusted you to come to me and act like family...»

« _Be_ family, not _act like_.» He ignored me, not surprisingly.

«And you seriously accepted even knowing what I did in the past. Are you stupid?»

 _...what. Is he insulting me now?_ And it sounded like he just realized that I was trying to get to him in a peaceful way. _He's the stupid here, not me_. «Hey, I allow you to kill me but not to insult me!»

« _She's unable to stay serious for long times and indeed stupid, but in a good way._ » Tsumizuki chimed in happily, floating in her ball form near my head. « _I tried to manipulate her into killing her family and trainers but she didn't abandon me, as you can see. She just loves lost causes such as herself!_ »

My head snapped to her, a frown on my face. «How is it that you insult and compliment me at the same time?!»

«Is that so...» the young man murmured a bit amusedly. «You know, I should kill you after you spoke to me like that.»

«Would you have preferred a slap across your face instead of a talk?»

He paused, before chuckling a bit. «Aren't you afraid of me?»

«...That was the past.»

« _That was two seconds ago, master_.»

«Will you just shut the f-ck up, please?!»

« _Why, it's the truth~_ »

I growled at her as she smiled tauntingly.

And then we heard him. «You're too easily distracted by your spirit, in battle this may cause your death.»

«Well~ that's one way to put it. What if it was a strategy to make the enemy lower his guard?»

Hao seemed to freeze for a millisecond there, but smirked as he always did and released my throat. «You're being too straight.»

Now, you know the moments when your mouth speaks before your brain? Well, that happens a lot to me and I end up to blurt whatever I have in my mind out. I didn't leave him time to explain what he meant and said: «Actually, I think I'm _bi_ for that matter. But you can say I'm straight at some times and not at others.»

Silence again. I looked at my brother - who seemed a bit dumbfounded after my reply - directly in the eye without blinking, even when Tsumizuki started to laugh. Then, after a moment, he spoke again.

«You didn't just make a joke on being straight or gay or whatever you are.»

I grinned. «Of course I did! Does it bother you, _otooto_? And it's called 'bisexuality', by the way.»

He shook his head and glanced at me disapprovingly. There was another long pause in which we only looked at each other, before...

« _Aah, all this tension is killing me! You clarified your positions, will you drop the God forsaken atmosphere?_ »

To my utter disbelief, Tsumizuki showed herself in front of me and Hao in her full form too; she never did that even when we were alone and I asked her nicely! I felt my mouth fell open.

« _...What's with that face. He's a cutie and deserves my appearance_ ~»

I jumped out of bed and took her on, all of my concerns thrown out of the window. «Let's make a point clear, you're not trying _anything_ with my brother, have I made myself clear?»

 **Snort**. « _Oh please, even if I wanted to do something you couldn't stop me_.» she said smugly, leaning to me with her hands on her hips.

«You're forgetting something though, I can send you back to your prison.»

Now she glared at me.

« _You'd be left to fight without a spirit_.»

I smirked tauntingly at her, as she did a few minutes before.

«I'll manage just fin- _oh sh-t_ , this reminds me! Where is Boris? Is he alright? And please tell me that you didn't kill Lirirara when you took us away, she doesn't deserve that and you'll be king anyway. But back to Boris, we'll have to find him a new spirit if he wants to stay in the tournament, only... how? ... Aaah, Goddamnit! Stupid X-Laws!»

« _Actually it was Amidamaru-_...»

«Whatever, shut up! They deserve insults in any case!»

We were both forced to stop as a crystalline laughter filled the room; at the same time, Tsumizuki's gaze and mine flew on Hao, who was clearly having his share of fun. I don't know why, but it felt simply right to see him like this. It made me a bit happy too.

«You're so unorganized, nee-san. The Seminoa girl is probably with the rest of your group, if she managed to survive the hallucinations. As for Boris, he already woke up and is currently waiting with the others.» he commented as he gestured for us to follow him outside, making me flush in embarrassment.

 _Well, he's still my little brother reprimanding his older sister, of course it was embarrassing, okay!_ was my first thought, immediately followed by _He just called me "nee-san"_ \- which made me smile like an idiot for the next two hours.

* * *

Meanwhile, at one of the main plazas of the hidden village, a certain group met up after waking up from the hallucinations induced by the close proximity to the Spirit King: Yoh, Ryu and Horo Horo were sitting on the brink of the central fountain, looking leisurely at the shops and the mass of light and souls on the background.

«Hey guys!» A young man approached, running towards them; he looked a bit worn out. «Sorry, I'm late.»

Yoh immediately smiled with all the calmness of the world. «Nah, don't worry, we were relaxing here anyway. Any news on the girls?»

Yoichi shook his head. «I asked a few officiants but they had no idea on Karura-san's whereabouts while Lirirara-san is still asleep. Thalim, one the officiants, is still with her. He also said that Karura-san is somewhere in the village. He left her with Hao before coming to us.» he almost growled the last phrase.

«Don't worry, Yoichi-san. I don't think she's in danger, there's this feeling I have which tells me that he doesn't want to hurt her.» the young Asakura said, remembering how the "cruelest guy" took Boris and Karura away before the X-Laws could strike again. He didn't think that Hao would do this if he didn't care at least a bit for them, hence his previous statement.

The older brunet didn't look much comforted, but kept silent about it nonetheless.

After the brief exchange, the four of them went on a walk to explore the village: they had at least two months of waiting before the second phase could start, so they might as well spend some quality time relaxing (or training, though this option was not so considered at the moment). And while Yoh kept halting in every single stand which sold souvenirs such as straps or dolls or posters, Ren made back to the group and began getting angry at him for fooling around. Everything was the same as always.

As they entered a shop named "Patch Work Shop 2" (so much for naming sense) they were all greeted by Kalim, the officiant in charge of Horo Horo. The surprise in their eyes was crystal clear. «You know, the Patch have been working diligently on these handicrafts just for this convention! Of course soon the tournament will continue, but you should be wary even before it continues.»

Ren humph-ed at the Patch's concern. «I've been keeping an eye on things, so no need to worry.»

«Well, do you want to buy anything before the fights continue?»

«WHO WOULD BUY THIS GARBAGE! I'M LEAVING THIS SHOP RIGHT NOW!»

The brunet laughed by himself: the short temper of the Tao heir was even worse than his mother's. Which reminded him of something. «Ah, Kalim, do you happen to have a set of traditional cups?»

The officiant brightened up at that. «Of course! We have different decoration too, which one would you prefer?»

«Wait a second, are you actually going to buy something?!» Both Horo Horo and Ren shouted at the same time in disbelief; the young man simply smiled sheepishly, scratching his head with a hand.

«Well, my parents love to collect this kind of things...»

After the little shopping on Yoichi's part, the group moved on - or, well, that was the idea before a familiar voice made everyone stop. Yoh basically ran back in the shop to talk with a blonde girl that Yoichi never saw before; she turned out to be Yoh's fiancée-trainer, who was there to help him to become stronger. The brunet suspected that this had something to do with the Asakuras' background, but kept silent as he watched the exchange between the two.

«First we have to find a safe place to train and I should check out your various opponents, then-» the blonde paused as her eyes landed casually on the new addiction of the group. «Who are you?»

«Ah, Anna, he's Yoichi Tamashimi. We've been sticking together since the first phase! There are also two more girls, but one is actually somewhere else while the other is asleep.» Yoh explained patiently; he carefully avoided mentioning _where_ for the moment.

The girl named Anna frowned. «You've been travelling with other women?»

«D-don't look at me like that! We had to share rooms but nothing hap-»

«You _shared_ a room too...?»

The other five people who were witnessing the scene drew back in fear upon seeing an eerie demon-like image forming behind the blonde itako; one thing was sure: Yoh was going to live a hell shortly after.

* * *

«There's still something I still don't get, though.» Horo Horo said after a while, taking another sip of his juice.

The group, counting Anna too (and a poor, beaten up Yoh), was now seated at a table in one of the many restaurants of the Patch Village. Of course the misunderstanding about the "mysterious girl" and a "cheating Yoh" was cleared immediately, but the boy had already suffered minor injuries from his future wife.

«How comes that you and Karura already knew each other?»

Yoh looked up from his plate to answer. «Ah, during the eliminatory for the tournament a friend of mine was almost killed by my opponent. She showed up in that occasion and took care of him while I fought. I was still worried during the match, so I ended up losing...»

«Wait, the girl that saved Manta is part of your group?» the itako suddenly asked; her fiancée nodded simply. «Mh, Karura... What was her last name again?»

«Isn't it Tamashimi?» Ryu asked casually. He remembered when the two greeted them for the first time: in that occasion she gave only her first name before Yoichi's, they took that the surname was the same for both of them. «Speaking of which, Yoichi. Is she your sister or something? You definitely don't look alike, not a bit.»

The young man shifted in his seat uncomfortably under the steel gaze of the blonde. «Well, no... she's supposed to be my fiancée, but please don't mention her that I told you that. She would get really angry.»

«Got it, so she's your- WHAT?!» the Elvis-like man jumped on his feet. «Why didn't you tell us before?!»

«...You never asked?»

Yoh laughed. «Well, that explains why you were so rigid when Boris approached her.»

«Boris?» Anna inquired again suspiciously.

«He was... is... Agh, we don't even know if he's still alive!» the blue haired teen intervened. «However, he's one of Hao henchmen.»

The blonde felt an eerie feeling together with a surge of anger pooling up inside her stomach: Hao, that arrogant and cheeky bastard that tried to flirt with her just before arriving in the village, to not say the most dangerous shaman of the tournament... She had to explain that to Yoh and deliver the Cho-Senji-Ryakketsu together with the Asakura's treasure as soon as possible, so that he can begin his training.

Still...

«In any case, I really want to meet this girl.» the itako said lightly, expression really not mirroring her thoughts. The possibilities of this being a case of homonymy were unlikely; she was the daughter Mikihisa had spoken her of, but she wasn't as dangerous as Hao for the moment.

* * *

«Eh... _eh... etchoo_!»

A certain spirit beside me chuckled. « _Oh? Someone's badmouthing you?_ »

I glared at her with all my might (she was probably right, but better not say that; there was no need to increase her self confidence). «I almost liked it better when I didn't have to see you.»

« _Too bad I decided other way today._ »

A few insults left my mouth while I left the main plaza with Boris trailing behind me.

Important fact: it was decided that Boris would be under my protection and responsibility from now on, which of course didn't mean that he had left Hao's group. It was a temporary measure until we found another spirit for him or managed to call back Blamuro - which is really, really unlikely, unless someone went all the way straight to hell to find him, convincing him to come back and actually come back in one piece.

I had to talk with either Hao or the Ghandara, they were the main experts in death and rebirth after all but I was not sure that they'd help me.

« _Why don't you go? You've been there one time already and came back perfectly fine_.»

«Shall I remember you that that time I had someone to back me up and keep my body in a comatose state, Tsumizuki? I don't f-cking know what will happen if I die now and nobody helps with that.» I bit on my thumb nail thoughtfully.

«Wait, you already died once?»That was when Boris decided to join the conversation; he was still a bit uneasy due to the fact that he was "alone" among "enemies" and isolated from his group and without a guardian spirit. «I thought that master Hao was the only one...»

I smiled at him encouragingly. «Well, my case is a bit particular but I've died twice actually, in both cases by accident. No big deal.»

« _And here she acts all though again. Who was that kept crying for ages because of her nightmares?_ »

I flushed at her comment. «That was solely your fault, you ass!»

« _At least you're honest and admit it~_ »

«Rrrgh, I hate you!»

Half ignoring our little rant, Boris kept thinking by himself for a while before speaking again. «Still... you're quite something, mistress Karura. I can see why master Hao is interested in you. If another powerful shaman had conquered the five point of the star-»

«Wait, hold on! Let's make something clear, shall we?» I interrupted him immediately, shaking my hands in front of his face. «First, I'm a common shaman, not an immortal one. Heck, I still have problems with my Over Soul sometimes thanks to a certain b-tch here.» As I pointed the spirit, Tsumizuki waved at him, very proud of her own actions. «Second, please, call me Karura. No mistress, it's embarrassing. Just Karura is fine, can you do that?»

Well, now he looked a bit taken aback. «But you're master Hao's sister and I'm in your debt too-»

« _Then she_ orders _you to call me by her first name. Does it suit you this way, dear~?_ »

The vampire paused. «I suppose...?»

«Wonderful! Now let's find Yoichi so we can worry about your situation.»

Also, I had to speak with Yoh about that thing before anyone else could explain it to him. That was destined to be a brother-and-sister-bonding day.


	13. Chapter 13: Siblings II

**Heeello everyone!**

 **I've just come back from my little vacation and since I'm in a very good mood I managed to finish the chapter. And I must say that I feel more comfortable with the third person than with the first, but whatever...**

 **Sooo I feel like I went a bit OOC with Yoh and Anna here, but I'm not sure. I think it's normal to be unsure after finding out something like that.**

 **In any case, I finally** **managed to write some scenes with Lirirara, YAY!**

 **But enough with my ranting, here you have the new chapter! Enjoy!**

 **As always, thanks to everyone who reads/follows/favs/reviews the story!**

 **.**

 **Edit: I edited a few phrases which sounded a bit off, I'm sorry for the mistakes.**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes. (I'm not sure if I should put M instead since I'm not used to the rating here - please tell me if you think I should change that!)**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

Not much after Boris and me managed to meet up with the others while they were exiting a restaurant-like building. I immediately noticed a new presence among the guys, a certain blonde head which both my brothers were interested in, if I remembered correctly (well, I could see Yoh and Anna as a couple: even if he's scared of her, Yoh truly loves her despite her... difficult personality; still, _ **I**_ didn't like her).

There was something that put me a little on edge: Lirirara was not with them and that made me frown. I had to check on her as soon as possible, yep.

Suddenly I felt a shiver run down my spine and I wasn't sure if that was because of the thought of Anna or something else. Nevertheless, Boris and I approached the five of them; my friendly smile already back on its right place.

«Guys, there you are!»

Yoichi was (not strangely) the first one who reacted. «Ah, Karura-san! You're back!»

«Yep, we're both back.» I gestured to Boris, making the brown haired young man before me loose his enthusiasm a bit. «And please, don't begin with that face. He's strong and everyone saw it, besides... you know as I do that this is important.» The last part was whispered before someone else called for us out of nowhere - a new voice undoubtedly.

«I see the entire group has assembled... Do you think you'll still be together when he fights start?» A teen with an afro-styled hair and a big cheetah behind him - obviously a spirit - appeared from one of the side alleys.

 _Ah, I see. This is that time already_. Too bad that he had been straightly ignored by everyone except me and Yoichi, until of course he mentioned he was a participant in the tournament too; I could already sense a migraine coming up in my head for the nonsensical jokes he tried to crack. _Well, let's leave it all to Ren for now._

«Mistr- I mean, Karura-dono, does this person bother you?» Boris asked with hostile voice.

I shook my head for both he question and the suffix he used (probably that was the most informal epithet he was going to use). «Don't worry, it's alright. He's going to be part of Yoh's group after all.» I turned to Anna, who was leading the group away. «You must be Yoh's fiancée, right? Pleased to meet you!»

She eyed suspiciously the hand I tended to her before looking at me. «And you're that person, the one Kino-sensei and Yohmei-san told me about.»

 _Figures that they told her about me too._ My smile widened, starting to resemble a Cheshire grin already. «I didn't know I was that famous. How are they doing, by the way?»

Wonderful, she's glaring at me now and with NO REASON apparently. So much for a good beginning.

«They're faring fine.»

«That's a nice thing to hear.» I lied bluntly, for I didn't really care for them. Feeling that the conversation was already over, my attention went to my brother. «Yoh, can I speak to you privately as soon as our new friend there has finished his show?»

Speaking of perfect timing, in that moment Chocolove - who was being threatened by Ren - shouted. «Woah, woah, woah! Don't joke around like that, I only want to be your teammate!»

«Teammate?» Ren asked.

«Yeah... teammate.»

I cleared my throat. «So, you have read the rules of the Shaman Fight in the Oracle Bell?»

«Yeah. Before the Shaman Fight I returned to Tokyo to wait and found out something interesting.» he paused, throwing a glance at the Tao's weapon, still at a few centimeters from his face. «We'll have to fight in groups of three people per match, but the groups may be of more. Every member of a team can fight as he or she wishes, of course, but not following the rules can get the whole team disqualified.»

«Ah, now that I think of it...» Ryu said suddenly. «I remember that Karura-chan said something similar when we met the X-Laws.»

I simply nodded while Yoichi spoke up. «All the things he just explained are true. If a shaman can't find a group to fight with, he or she will be automatically out of the tournament.»

My mind took off to Lalaland as soon as Chocolove continued to tell the others about his spirit Mic and the three most influential groups in the tournament; don't take it badly, but that discussion didn't really matter to me at the moment: I was more worried about the talk I had to have with Yoh. Hopefully it wouldn't impress him too much...?

«So, how do we team up then?» someone suddenly asked, catching my attention back.

«The comedian here will be in my team.» Ren immediately stated. «We'll have to fight sooner or later, so I'll form a separate team to have a better chance in competing with you.»

Ryu was not pleased with this. «How can you say such things!»

«I don't mind, who's your third guy?»

«Umph, I'm not interested in things that have uncertain outcomes and since you'll surely look for Lyserg...» the Chinese trailed off. «It's a waste of time, either of you two will do.»

« _Will do_?! Stop boasting! Besides, did you forget that there are also Yoichi and Karura here?»

As thankful as I could have been for Horo Horo's consideration, there was still a little problem.

«Um... to be honest we were planning on have our own team... We still need to find our third member though...» Yoichi said, anticipating me.

Yoh cocked his head to the side. «Isn't Boris your third member?»

A loud WHAT was heard. I scoffed. «As much as I'd like that, he has his own team. Was thinking about asking the Patch to include Lirirara in the tournament since she's a strong shaman after all. That is... if she accepts to participate.»

«That's probably the best choice and if the Patch don't approve that you can still join one of our teams!»

Have I ever said that I love my little brother? Because seriously, he's too kind for his own good.

«Thanks, Yoh. I think it's worth a try, but if you're fine we'll think about your offer later so everyone will be happy, hopefully.»

 _Well, probably not everyone. Ryu's wish to team up with Lyserg will be crushed later by Anna, in order to get Faust on Yoh's squad_. The green haired boy had made his decision - blinded by the talks of that four-eyes asshole - and that's it. I didn't feel sorry for not giving a damn about him.

On the other hand, I was concerned about my group: leaving aside the team name issue, which will be a pain in the ass sincerely, Yoichi had to accept the fact that Boris was on our side and not an enemy: he was under my care and I considered him a good acquaintance - to not to say friend already, it was a bit early for that I think...?

As for his jealousy, he'd have to live with the fact that I don't care for anyone in a romantic way. One and one only was my objective here and that definitely didn't involve falling in love.

« _Dear, I think they have finished speaking. You can have your time alone with Yoh-chan now~_ »

 **Sigh**. «Tsumi, will you ever stop sounding like a total creep? Do me a favor and stay here with Yoichi and Boris so they don't try to kill each other meanwhile.» And if I had to trust Tsumizuki with their well being... well, that's how much importance I put in that talk. «Sooo, Yoh? Can I kidnap you for some time?»

Ignoring the glare from Anna, to which he seemed to be oblivious of, my brother nodded. «Sure. I think my training will start from tomorrow.»

«Yoh, I don't think this is a good-»

«Don't worry, _Anna-chan!_ He'll be right back for dinner, see you later~» I interrupted the blonde's statement putting an arm around the teen's shoulders and began to drag him away, while I felt more than one look of disbelief for how I acted with the Ice Queen.

The two of us walked around for a bit, not really talking (small chat counts?) or pointing at stalls and restaurants with particular dishes we promised to try sooner or later. It was the first time I actually got some time alone with Yoh - before we travelled together with the others and there hadn't been really occasions to talk like this - so I fully enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere.

Finally, we ended up in the lake area just before the Spirit King. The sandy coast was lovely in my opinion and relaxing too, so there we sat; I took off my shoes and took a few steps in the water just before Yoh spoke up again.

«So, what did you want to talk about? I don't really understand why, but Anna seems to be wary of you.»

I turned around to face him, my hands behind my back. «Probably is because of what Mikihisa and Yohmei told her about me, about Hao... and about our family.»

«Our family as in... "Hao's and yours"?» he asked hesitantly and I could hear the gears in his head turning already. He probably felt that something was simply off, especially with me knowing his relatives; he was not stupid.

So I decided to not hit around the bush and tell him directly. «Yoh, Hao is your twin brother and I am your older sister. I believe that you never heard about this, but it's the truth: your grandfather probably told Anna everything, but I didn't want you to know by someone else.» I paused a few seconds to let him take in the new piece of information.

«Wait a second, grandpa always spoke about the importance of the lineage and stuff. If you're an Asakura, how is it that you-»

«Our opinions differed from each other's and we ended up to take different ways.» I interrupted him; _My bad habit strikes again_. «...I don't know what they told you or what Anna will tell you, but will you listen to my version of the story?»

«...Yes, of course.»

When I heard his positive reply a few moments later, I smiled to myself and began to told him _everything_ : from my situation - as in being reincarnated, not coming from another world - to my hatred for Mikihisa since the time he wanted to kill both him and Hao, to the mission he had to accomplish as an Asakura.

Yoh listened to me carefully and without interrupting, not even once, and for that I was really, really grateful.

I took a deep breath, almost an hour later than when I started talking. «And that's all.»

«So... basically my family wants to kill Hao, who is either our brother and our ancestor, because he wants to become Shaman King and put an end to humanity.» I nodded. «And since you're okay with this, you fled from home before dad or grandpa tried to kill you off.»

«Well, it's not that I'm okay with that, but I think that Hao deserves to be happy in some way-»

«...That's twisted, nee-san.»

«But! I'd also like to make him understand that not all humans are despicable. Well, the majority of them is, but not everyone. He might change his mind if he gets that, it's not a lost cause, you know...»

«Mmh...»

Yoh mumbled something to himself for a few moments, deep in thoughts. Then, as if nothing happened, he laid on the back with his arms folded behind his head. He stayed eyes-closed for a few minutes and I let him ponder to himself as long as he needed (though I suspected that he had fell asleep somewhere in the middle; I was fortunately wrong).

«Okay, I understand.» he suddenly said. «If you think we can do something for him, then I trust you. And I'll do whatever is in my ability to help out.»

I blinked once and stared into his smiling face; this boy was so utterly honest that it was only natural to want to stay with him, seriously: it was accepting, like you could throw anything at him and he'll say "okay, don't worry".

«Thank you, Yoh. Really... Really thank you for your trust.»

«Whaaat, this is what family stands for, isn't it?»

I nodded, thanking him again to be his adorable, accepting self in my mind; I had the impression that he'd understand and probably forgive anyone after hearing their story - unless it was someone psychotic without reason.

 _...Wait a second._

«Yoh, I'm sorry if this sounds a bit off, but... what will you do now? I mean, you know. The others will probably make you go and try to kill Hao as five centuries ago.»

The " _will you forgive them for lying to you_ " part went unsaid.

«Mmmh... I don't want to kill my brother, what I said before applies to him too. He's my family as you are and...» he trailed off, which caught my attention. Turning to him, I noticed a faint blush on his cheeks; was he embarrassed? _What?_ «Well... I'd like to know you more. I had fun spending time together before we arrived here, especially when you argued with Yoichi and Horo Horo, and-»

«Do you mean, you like to spend time with me?» I summarized; he nodded a bit awkwardly. «Well, huh... it would be my pleasure of course. I thought you'd want some time to yourself to think about everything.»

«I plan to do that, but I also want to get to know you. We have some years to make up to, right...?»

It was my turn to nod as Yoh smiled, a little more comforted by the situation. Wait, was he embarrassed to ask me to spend time together? Why is that? I decided to ask him right away and the answer I got... I did not expect it.

«What do you mean that you didn't know if I saw you as my brother?» I asked after a few moments of silence, completely dumbstruck.

He scratched his cheek, laughing a bit nervously. «You always spoke about Hao, I thought you-»

«You thought that I cared for him more than for you?»

«...Basically, yes. Sorry.» And then he had his cute-slash-apologetic smile on his face.

It was official: in that moment I felt the _urge_ to hug him, which I definitely gave in to.

«K-Karura?!» he stuttered as I pulled him towards me.

«Stupid little brother, never ever think about something like this.» I mumbled near his left ear, before releasing him a bit to look at him eye to eye. «I love you as I love Hao, remember it. It's just that his case is a bit more complicated, as you probably can imagine.»

He nodded slowly, smiling as he always did - and what do they say? Smiling is contagious.

«Good! Now let's get back before that female demon signs you up for an extra run tomorrow. And by the way, how the hell do you put up with her demands all the time? It's excruciating!»

Upon seeing my exasperated face, my lovely brother _laughed_. «Ahah, Anna can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, but it's not that bad...»

«Yoh, how is that only _a bit_ overwhelming?!»

And so the conversation went on while we stood up and made our way to the main plaza. I also had to visit Lirirara, might as well go there with Yoh since I suspect he was worried for her too.

* * *

To be honest, Yoh didn't expect such a story. What Karura told him a few hours before totally threw him off, even if he didn't show it on the outside: he had siblings, both of which had to run away - for a reason or another - from the Asakura estate, where he grew up alone. And no one never ever named them in front of him, probably not wanting him to know and begin asking questions.

He deserved to know about them, he thought a bit snappily, Karura and Hao were his older sister and brother, no matter if they were evil or good; he didn't care about that, Yoh just wanted to know. It wasn't that bad, right? But his parents had to hide everything from him - his siblings, the Asakuras' history, the 'mission' he was supposed to accomplish...

Strangely, those were the things that worried him more, not the fact that he risked to not be here and alive.

The young Asakura decided to spend some time pondering about that situation, waiting also for some explanation by his family - meaning, parents and grandparents - on the matter. He understood the situation, but he couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed by those who he trusted so much in the past years. Yoh felt a similar emotion towards Karura too, because she acted like she was a complete stranger since the beginning - but a tiny part of him kept saying that she had been right to do so, _that it had to be done_.

However, more than anything, the young brunette felt the need to know everything about his lineage. And to do so, he had to listen to Anna's version of the story and Hao's too - that is, if his twin brother would tell him.

«Yoh! You're back finally!»

That was Horo Horo's welcome when he made it back to the inn. Much to his surprise Boris was still there with everyone, even if he and Yoichi sat to the opposite sides of the room; and the young Asakura couldn't help but notice a far too familiar red sign on the Tamashimi's cheek. _They fought and Anna got pissed_ , he mused.

«Eheh, sorry for being late, Karura and I went to visit Lirirara earlier. She has awaken finally, but is still a bit weak.» he explained, hoping that his motive was reasonable enough for Anna; he didn't want extra exercises for the next day after all.

«So, Karura-san decided to stay with her?» At Yoichi's question, Yoh simply nodded. «I'll be going there too then.» And with that the brown haired boy left the room, probably more than happy to stay away from the Romanian shaman. Not that Yoh could blame him for that: Yoichi was not the only one to sense the tense atmosphere.

A moment later Anna's blonde hair appeared from the nearby corridor, followed by Tamao. Her gaze, which held a bit of worry and uncertainty, was immediately on Yoh. «What took you so long to come back? Did you get lost or something?»

The boy looked at her directly in her eyes, finding immediately the real questions she wanted to ask. _Did that woman tell you about_ that _? Do you want to join Hao's side now that you know what your family did?_

Probably if it was someone else he would have felt even offended by the implication; but Yoh, being Yoh, didn't: he cared for his parents and grandparents, he wouldn't turn his back to them completely. However, for once he wanted them to understand that they shouldn't have kept him in the dark for so long: he'd have appreciated better a bit more of honesty.

«We talked a bit too much and lost the track of time. Next time we'll be more careful.»

At that, Anna narrowed her eyes. «Next time?»

«Yes, next time. I want to get to know Karura a bit more, she's a good company.»

«I d-don't think is a good idea, master Yoh... That's Hao's sister!» Tamao reminded timidly; he gave her a kind smile before turning his gaze back to Anna. Now he was sure that his fiancée didn't like the idea too much, but he wouldn't step back from his decision.

He had the rights to do so and he made a promise to his sister; no matter what the others might say, he would fulfill it.

«You can be a good person even if you have a merciless family, can't you?» Yoh almost murmured that reply, passing near the two girls with a weak smile plastered on his face.

And for once Anna didn't answer. She was a bit shocked by the implication he just made: was he referring to Ren's case or his own? Even if she tended to the first option, because the Yoh she knew would never say something like that, a small part of her couldn't shake off the uneasiness she felt in that moment.

She only hoped it was a temporary thing, because if it wasn't it could mean just one thing...

* * *

 ** _Six days later..._**

* * *

«So, today's the great day, isn't it?»

«Y-yeah... I'm a bit nervous in fact...»

«Aha, don't be! You'll do just fine, I know it!»

The Seminoa girl sighed deeply, a hand on her chest to give herself some kind of courage. The young man was right, today she had to prove herself worth of participating in the Shaman Tournament: it took almost forever of Yoichi's kind requests and a fair share of continuous nagging on Karura's part to the Patch officiants to create that occasion, so she wasn't going to waste it.

That was the perfect chance to see the Patch Tribe's true color, she said to herself. From the day- no, the moment she woke up with that officiant near her bed, she had felt the desire of knowing the truth more than ever; and probably the fact that he - Thalim, as he introduced himself - didn't try to kill her at sight and even tried to make her more comfortable was a good sign.

It didn't mean that she had lowered her guard completely, of course.

Throwing those thoughts aside - Lirirara knew better, in that moment she had to focus her mind on one and only task, namely fighting with the officiants before her - the trio stepped closer to the ring appositely prepared for that occasion. She strengthened the grip on her wand as her spirit appeared near her.

They were welcomed by the familiar voice of Goldva. «Lirirara of the Seminoa tribe, step ahead.»

She complied, not before receiving an encouraging smile from Yoichi and a friendly slap on her back from Karura; the black haired shaman stepped up until she was a mere two meters from the current head of the Patch and two of the officiants - one of them, surprisingly, was the one she met after waking up.

«After the suggestion of three of our participants and the acceptance of the Spirit King, we decided accordingly to give you a test to show your worth to take part in the Shaman Tournament.» Goldva spoke solemnly, waving a hand to one of the other two Patch. «All you have to do is fighting with Magna, think of it as the qualification match the other shamans went through. The rules are still the same, to pass you need to damage his body at least once.»

«That's... all?» the Seminoa girl asked after a moment.

«Well, you already received the blessing of the Spirit King and you arrived in the village. What did you expect?»

The area fell silent for a few seconds, until a yell reached the ring. «Go, Lirirara! You can do it! Wipe the floor with his ass, come on!»

Everybody felt the urge to facepalm while the poor girl only wanted to disappear for the embarrassment: did Karura have to be this loud every time?!

«Well then, if you're ready then we shall begin.» Magna's deep voice took all the attention to him. Soon after both Goldva and Thalim left the ring, the latter joining the two other shamans; when everyone was ready to go, the match began.

The two challengers immediately formed their oversouls and Magna charged at the younger woman, which carefully evaded; her dolls split up to attack the officiant from different sides, but he managed to avoid any contact with them. The four then retreated back to their master's side, ready to protect her and attack at any moment.

The male shaman studied the movements of her mediums carefully, knowing better than to just charge blindly: he defended and attacked when possible, just as she did. What he didn't take to account, though, was the possibility of Lirirara taking a hit just to make him lower his guard for a second - more than enough to her dolls to touch him.

Pain bloomed in his right arm as the unbearable sensation of losing a limb hit him. Magna managed to evade the contact with more than one doll, but was taken aback nonetheless; a smirk formed on his lips after he recovered: it looked like the Seminoa tribe had reasons to be feared after all.

The determination in Lirirara's eyes was more than enough to convince him, Goldva and Thalim of that.

«Illusions, huh? Pretty dangerous if they touch you and you don't have a strong mind.»

A light laugh reached the plant shaman. «Aha, are you insulting your comrade by calling him weak? That's not cute at all.»

«Says the one who brought hell for six days to us because she wanted her friend to be in her team. Is that cute to you?» Thalim replied, earning another chuckle.

«But we managed to gain this occasion, isn't it alright?»

«It is, since your friend looks quite skilled if you ask me. She could be a good addition to the Tournament.»

A muffled scream reached the three of them shortly after followed by a whack sound, like something or someone was hit by a rod straight in the face. Karura whistled, looking rather amused. «Hey, does that count as damage? Because if it does, I think Lirirara just won.»

«Well, technically it counts. Right, chief?»

Goldva, at some meters of distance, nodded solemnly. «Magna, that's enough! This girl proved herself worth of the Shaman Tournament. Her skill at controlling four spirit at the same time is good and the timing of their attacks shows the strength of their bond.»

A joyful scream echoed in the air as Karura shamelessly jumped on the ring and tackled the Seminoa girl, successfully making them both fall to the ground. The three officiants smirked to themselves while Yoichi ran up to his teammates to help them.

It looked like the current tournament was going to be interesting.

* * *

 **I suck at writing combat scenes, I know. It will get better, or at least I hope...**


	14. Chapter 14: Before the start I

**Heeello, everybody!**

 **I'm finally back with a chapter after ages and as always I apologize for the long wait. I kinda had some problems figuring out how to continue here...**

 **Little announcement: I didn't really plan some scene of this chapter but thanks to a reviewer my brain started working and the idea just sounded... good. So yeah.**

 **If someone likes Anna, please, don't take it personal or hate me for what Karura said (and I probably f-cked over the itako's character, sjdsg. Stupid me). I just hope my OC didn't become too Mary Sue or something, I'd probably jump out of the window if she did.**

 **A huge thanks for the ones who reviews, reads, follows or favorites the story! I'm really glad you like the story up until now. :3**

 **We'll meet again at the end of this chapter, I have to clarify some things probably.**

 **(also... I hadn't checked properly the grammar because here's quite late already and I had to finish the chapter and add the notes at the end to update today. I apologize if something is off)**

 **Now to the chapter!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes.**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC (which will probably kill me in my sleep some day).**

* * *

Two months incredibly flew by in the blink of an eye.

It was kind of fun and though at the same time: almost every day Lirirara, Yoichi and I would wake up early to train together, as to improve our teamwork. We also decided our main position in the team, me being the main attacker, Yoichi the defense and Lirirara the support; it's not like that those were the only role we'd play in a match, we'd switch according to the situation, but it's good to be organized as such.

By the way, we had our morning run all together - most of times meeting up with Yoh and the others too - before breakfast, then went to have breakfast with the whole group and after that we had training again. Much to Anna's displeasure, our teams (meaning, Yoh's, Ren's and mine) often had friendly matches among ourselves - that really should be a good thing for her point of view too, since she'd be able to see the "enemy"'s fighting style.

Rarely Ren and Faust would join, but whatever. I was honestly happy to be able to spend some time with my younger little brother.

After another shower and lunch, there was the bad part of the day - according to a certain someone.

Namely, me (and whoever wanted to come too, which was usually _no one_ ) going to see my older little brother Hao. Now, even if I said it over and over again, Yoichi simply wouldn't stop complaining nor Lirirara wouldn't stop glancing at me with worry and/or suspect.

Understandable, but... holy Spirit King, it was annoying!

So, basically we had fights everyday (for the first month, at least) before I left and of course I was - kind of - in a bad mood for the rest of the afternoon, which is exactly why I kept bitching all the way with Boris and Hao too. And here comes the most funny thing! After the nth time I came to their camp pissed as hell, my brother offered to fight - friendly - together to help me blowing off some steam (and probably to save himself and the others another migraine).

Turns out that that was the perfect thing to do: even if he basically wiped the floor, or the ground in this case, with my ass (no surprise there), it helped me a lot to improve my fighting style too. That, and for once Tsumizuki was more than happy to fight alongside with me and not against me; on more than one occasion I let her loose again, knowing that she'd be no threat to Hao nor the Spirit of Fire.

It was rejuvenating at last - something else I had to thank my brother for.

* * *

«You surely picked one hell of a spirit, nee-san.»

The light brown haired girl looked at Hao with a roasted fish half hanging from her mouth. «'i' 'ou 'ewwy 'ealife 'uft 'ow?»

«...Finish eating before you talk.» he commented, slightly annoyed by the display. The two were sitting under a tree at the camp's limit, watching the other members of Hao's group and their ghosts interact; the Boz began playing some songs while it was clear that Kanna didn't like it very much.

Karura just finished munching her snack, swallowed and wiped her mouth before speaking again.

«I said, did you really realize just now? It should have been crystal clear when you met her the first time.»

The girl grinned as he did the same, before turning her gaze back to her spirit was: incredibly, Tsumizuki was slightly changing too during the time they spent with the fire shaman's gang, Karura realized. The light blue haired ghost seemed... happier, more relaxed among them - probably because there were no samurais or whatever - but sometimes she played rough jokes on her fellow spirits.

The older Asakura liked to think that that was her way to show some kind of attachment, albeit a slightly twisted one.

«It seems that you too have a twisted bond with her.» Hao commented again, making his sister look at him again. «You two are a team, but you don't even trust each other that much on the battlefield. You often had lost control over her and had to force your will on her. And, you seem to want to look at her as a friend of sorts despite knowing that she'll just exploit the situation for her own desires.»

Karura kept silent, but in her mind there was the usual mess of thoughts and emotions running free.

One thing she did know, though: he was plain right. Ever since she read Shaman King for the first time and began to fantasize on that world, she'd have liked to have a friendly relationship with her hypothetical guardian spirit; yet, when she arrived there and trusted blindly her partner, only to be utterly betrayed.

Nonetheless, albeit she often threatened to send Tsumizuki back to Hell, the girl never really tried to.

She knew also why, but didn't want to say it out loud.

So, she simply shrugged and smiled as if it was nothing. «A she once said, I may just love lost causes after all~»

«Probably.» the younger boy smiled as usual too, not bothering to continue the conversation on her topic.

Instead, he turned his back to Karura for a moment and then plopped is shoulders and head on her lap, as if using her as a pillow; the girl looked taken aback for a second, blinking a few times before putting a hand on his head and stroking his long hair lightly.

«Comfortable?»

«Quite. I'm taking a nap now.»

She laughed a bit, keeping on with the strokes. «Good rest, oto-oto.»

When Hao woke up later he found Karura in the same position she had when he dozed off, her hand still on his head and her chest rising and lowering rhythmically. He inwardly smiled, seeing his usually hyper-active sister soundly asleep despite the uncomfortable position.

It was quite unusual for him to be able to relax, although only a bit, around someone and he found himself wondering how the girl managed to sneak her way to him like that. Probably he was just curious because of her straight-to-the-point behavior towards him - especially when she confronted him the first time and basically yelled at his face all her frustration - and saw the possibility that she'd bring him his twin brother too.

But it was curious indeed: he didn't feel any negative intention or thought towards him, even when she didn't use the technique to prevent him to see the majority of her thoughts. So, he said to himself, he might just accept her being near him to keep an eye on her and understand her motives better.

He also had his share of entertainment when she was there too, was it either when they sparred or when he taught her some techniques. Nostalgic as it might seem, Hao felt almost like he was back to his first life as an onmyouji.

And that wasn't necessarily too bad.

* * *

So the days went on, with mornings with a group and the afternoons with the other. Not everyone was happy, but whatever.

Then, there was this one time that Yoh did something (and I quote Anna) "unbelievably absurd and stupid", such as saying that he'd have liked to come with me to see Hao and his group; now, I know he meant well and probably wanted to know how Boris was faring in person, however this didn't prevent problems to surface.

My younger little brother clarified that his objective was merely talking with Hao and Karura together (without mentioning to the others, who were still oblivious of the fact, that the _three_ of us were siblings), but apparently his fiancée was not going to listen to his reasons. More like, she was _scared_ that Yoh would turn his back to her and the Asakuras and all the crap that was going on there.

She practically overwhelmed him with training sessions after the day he voiced his idea, morning and afternoon sessions alike, so he'd be too tired to even think about having social interaction when he was done with that. It irked me to no end, but I kept silent for the first week.

Having chats with Yoh became difficult as well, since the only moments when we could interact were morning runs. At one point I told him what I suspected Anna was doing (she justified her behavior saying that he had to become stronger if he wanted to stay in the tournament until the finals, but her true intention was clear as the sun) and he did sadly agree with me. He also promised that he'd find a solution and told me to not worry about him.

My answer?

Well...

* * *

«Yoh is coming with me today.»

It was a bit after lunch time when Karura said that in a firm voice, mainly speaking to the blonde itako; everyone was there though, so of course they heard as well. Anna lowered her cup of tea and glared at the older girl openly.

«He has to train this afternoon.»

«He can take a pause for once, or else he'll strain his body too much.»

The brown haired shaman noticed the tiredness in her brother's body and knew by firsthand experience that it wouldn't do him any good if he continued that way too long without being accustomed to it first. Apparently, the Asakura wife didn't care.

«No, he can't. Yoh will never become Shaman King like this.»

A vein on Karura's forehead bulged a bit. _He'll never become Shaman King anyway and you know it_ , she wanted to say but still refrained from doing so. «You're making him _weaker_ instead of _stronger_ , in case you didn't notice. Of course he won't become Shaman King if he arrives to the match without the energy to even stand on his legs.»

It was Anna's turn to frown deeply. The other guys and girls simply stared between the two, not even daring to speak; they knew better than to mess with an angry Anna, but they also knew how scary a pissed off Karura might become. So, they simply stared - someone secretly curious, someone utterly amused, someone scared... someone even worried for the outcome.

The blonde stood from her seat, looking down to the girl seated at the other side of the table. «Are you implying that Yoh would _lose_ a match because of _my_ training method?»

«I want to clarify something, Anna. I'm not implying that he would lose.» No honorifics or whatever; Karura still looked unimpressed - maybe annoyed but definitely not impressed - by the other girl's antics. Then, she smiled smugly. «I'm _saying_ that he definitely _will_ lose because of this overly strict training schedule because _you_ 're being annoyingly _childish_ and don't want Yoh to have _his own_ ideas regarding Hao.»

That did the trick: now the itako was **beyond** pissed. «You're no one to talk to me like this, nor to decide for him!»

« _Oh, is that so_?» Karura said sarcastically. «You're not even related to him, yet act all bossy and _bitchy_ if he doesn't follow your orders. You don't _own_ him and even if he loves you-» she made a face at this point. «-it doesn't mean that you can treat him like a puppet.»

The older shaman stood from her seat, left the money for the food on the table and turned to her brother, smiling as if the tense atmosphere wasn't even there. «Well, Yoh! If you're done with lunch, shall we go before the Oni Empress tries to punish us with-»

The phrase hung in the air as a loud crashing noise filled the street: the group sitting at the outside tables of the cafè stared at the point where Karura once stood, only to see the blue and the red shikigamis with their arms still stretched; it was obvious who they attacked.

Yoichi immediately stood up, his chair screeching behind him, and ran towards the now damaged building in front of the cafè. Upon hearing his call out for her, Karura kicked aside a piece of debris that most likely fell on her after she collided with the wall and stood up; her lower lip was bleeding, they noticed.

« _My~ That was a close call, right, master?_ » Tsumizuki appeared beside her in her full form while the shaman wiped the blood from her face with a serious frown; now, the spirit liked that expression the best because it meant that her 'little Karura' was way past her patience level. The former shinobi grinned widely.

«She seriously did it this time.» she muttered while wearing the wire bracers on both her forearms; Tsumizuki immediately fused with them, even without her shaman's command. Everyone saw, including a smugly smiling Anna and a worried Yoh. It was not going to end well for someone.

«Ohi, ohi, ohi! They're not going to really fight, right?» Horo Horo asked in a low but hurried tone.

Ren simply ignored him, focusing his attention to the two girls in front of each other in the street, while Ryu gulped and told him that he didn't even know. Surprisingly enough, Chocolove didn't try to crack a joke to relieve the atmosphere - he didn't want to be involved with the matter. Yoh, Yoichi and Lirirara looked carefully too, uncertain on what would happen later.

Then, it began.

At the same time, both Zenki and Goki rushed towards Karura with their axes already lifted in the air; she ran forward as well, eyeing them with the most attention. She evaded their first combined attack jumping on the left and ducked under Zenki's kick; she propped herself towards it only to be punched - hard - away by Goki. The two sprinted to her again, keeping the shaman away from their master and landing a few more hits.

Karura was struck on defense and evading - this didn't sound right to Anna, who was carefully watching her opponent's movements. She studied her attack patterns already and there was apparently nothing different from usual, but at the same time the itako felt something... _off_. As if Karura was waiting something.

Her suspects were confirmed a few moments later when she saw the girl she hated slam her right hand on the ground: countless strings erupted from below, drawing a spiderweb-like pattern on the street and in the air between the buildings. Anna clicked her tongue upon seeing her shikigamis struggling, trying to break free from the trap, while Karura jumped from thread to thread to get closer and closer with her oversoul.

The itako prepared herself and waited the other to approach her before using a certain technique - furyoku nullification - to disperse Karura's oversoul, catching her off guard for an instant; freed as well, Zenki and Goki dashed towards the brown haired female for the final strike.

Anna felt somehow ashamed: she had to use such an high-leveled technique against that traitor! Such a dishonor-

Pain bloomed on her face like a firework, stopping her thoughts abruptly: she realized the impact with the ground even before the one with the older Asakura's fist. She fell on her side, but when she tried to stand back up again something heavy collided with her chest, cutting the hair from her lungs for a moment.

«You shouldn't lower you guard, you know. If you relax too much you're going to die.» Karura said in a sarcastic monotone voice, but the other only smirked.

«Right back at you.»

The itako saw the two shikigamis behind her opponent, about to strike her in the back. The older female had noticed too but didn't move a bit; she grinned darkly, a bit sadistically too. The reason was soon revealed: black eyes widened as the ogres began to dissipate - Anna felt a strong spiritual pressure around the two of them and understood what just happened.

Brown orbs glimmered with satisfaction and mirth. «Whaaat? You didn't think you were the only one to know about furyoku nullification, did you? Hao helped me a bit with my training, thanks to you I had a f-ckton of stress on my shoulders and he gave me a hand to blow off the steam. He's a very, very good teacher and will be a nice brother and help Yoh too, if he asks him. You know, _that's what family members are supposed to do: help and support each other_.»

After her little speech, Karura stepped aside, leaving a slightly shocked Anna laying on the ground, and went straight to catch her brother in a hug, asking if now he was okay with leaving.

The boy went to his fiancée to check on her, being his kind usual self; seeing no noticeable wounds other than the red sign on her nose and the slight bleeding, he left her with Tamao and waved off to his friends, before he started following the older brunette to the woods.

* * *

«It. Felt. GREAT! Sweet hell, I've never been this happy lately. I must thank our brother for the tips and the lessons he gave me for the past month!»

I couldn't help but feeling hyped after the little show between me and Anna. Well, I was a bit roughed up but whatever: I freaking won against the Oni Empress! _And now that I think of it_... I didn't realize that what I said was a bit nasty to her due to her experience with onis and stuff when she was younger.

 _…_ _scratch that, I don't care~ Mwahahahah!_

So yeah, I probably lost it somewhere during the fight. I managed to make Yoh sweat drop too and if that wasn't a bad sign then I didn't know what was.

It took me several minutes to calm down a bit and regain my usual composure, then I was able to talk to Yoh normally. Point was, I couldn't think about _what_ \- totally absurd if you ask me, I always detained the championship of blabbering nonsense out of nowhere most of times.

Gratefulness took over me as Yoh started speaking. «You really looked like you were having fun with the duel.»

«Well, yes.» I snickered a bit to myself; no point in hiding it, right? «I don't really like Anna because, seriously, she almost exhausted you to keep you from doing something you wanted to do! I mean, it's just stupid! Annoying, unjust, stupid and more annoying! Did I say that it is annoying? Because it really is.»

«Yeah, yeah, I get it.» Yoh laughed openly, a smile plastering his lips even after the laughter died out. «Thank you, sis.»

I looked over him questioningly.

«You defended me back there, in the restaurant, I appreciate it. You were also sent flying because of that.»

 **Snort**. «That actually hurt, even if Tsumi cushioned the impact. F-cking overly-strong shikigamis.» My right hand went to the left shoulder, which was still aching; that was also the main reason why I punched Anna straight in the face and then stepped on her chest. Low pain tolerance and slight vengefulness, remember?

 _"_ _Slight?"_

I ignored Tsumizuki's sarcasm right away.

«Well, what did you expect from Hao? He's strong, more than anyone.» Yoh commented matter-of-factly; I simply nodded.

«He tried to teach me a few tricks, but I barely caught some... like furyoku nullification: it cuts your furyoku off and so every technique or attack that involves it is canceled right away. It's pretty useful once you master it!»

«Woah, seriously there's such a convenient technique?!»

«Yep! Anna used it too during our fight, but... if I have to be honest, I think that I succeeded purely out of luck.» Admittedly, it had been the first time it actually worked out well; I tried countless time before against Kanna, Matilde and Marion but... well, let's say that id hadn't been nice at all.

Yoh hummed to himself. «... well, you still did it correctly! Isn't it something to be happy about?»

 _Seriously, bless this boy and his good nature_.

«You're right, eheh~ I'll have to tell Hao too, I suppose he'll be satisfied enough knowing that his teachings brought some kind of result.»

That was honestly one of the best moments I shared with Yoh from what I can remember.

But...You know what they say about happy times?

 _They don't last long._

I realized that when I suddenly felt a (and I quote myself) f-cking God forsaken pain right from the six realms of hell in my head - like I had a thousand elephants dancing tip tap on my brain while the demon orchestra played the most screeching and unorganized tune ever. F-ck me when I whined about a simple migraine.

Good thing was I didn't have much time to concentrate on that: another surge of pain flowed from my left shoulder, neck and upper abdomen.

«KARURA!» Yoh's voice reached my ears, but I was more occupied in trying to understand.

I felt something leave my body, like multiple sharp knives, and stumbled forward on my knees. Then, it hit me.

A red, warm and sticky fluid was my shirt rapidly. The spirit guardian Imari stood beside me, her mouth still slightly opened, together with the spirit guardian Shigaraki.

«It took some time, but I managed finally.» The asshole's (no, not Marco; the other asshole) voice woke me up from my trance-like state and I noticed that Yoh was either shocked and angry at his - our - father for what he had just done.

«...s-shit...» My vision went suddenly black ever before I could insult Mikihisa with everything I had.

So much for a calm and happy day.

* * *

 **Cliffhanger, mwahahaha!**

 **...sorry, ahehm. I'll leave you with the explanations now.**

 **.**

 **\- Hao**

I hope that Hao didn't sound too much OOC. I tried to make him still... huh, suspicious of Karura but not too much. I mean, techically they've spent weeks together already and he somehow became accostumed to her presence and antics (she likes to annoy the hell out of Kanna mainly, but the others too sometimes). I also thought that he'd rather keep her busy with something useful when she began to bother everyone after seeing Anna's behaviour after Yoh's declarations, so yeah.

It's really difficult for me to show a somehow... softer side of him. Not that he'll cry out his brotherly love to the winds, but I wanted to give the idea that he's kind of warming up to Karura.

No pun intended.

 **\- Relationship with Tsumizuki**

Karura has currently a love/hate relationship with her ghost. She'd still like to befriend her, but also knows that she'll take advantage of her in the moment the girl lowers her guard. Being a headstrong, Karura refused and still refuses to find another spirit.

 **\- Anna vs. Karura**

As mentioned before, this was definitely not planned but a review gave me the idea. Yeah, I probably still suck at describing the fighting scenes, but I tried nonetheless: it just didn't sound right to write paragraphs of Zenki and Goki attacking while Karura evaded and vice-versa. It'd be boring, so I cut.

And as I said to The-Living-Shadow (and I quote from my message) "in raw combat ability I think Anna doesn't have much power, her ability lies in onmyoji techniques if I'm not mistaken; Karura, on the other hand, thanks to the Tamashimi's training (mainly Shiho's) has developed her good share of experience". So I figured that she'd fall flat on her back if she punched really hard - which is exactly what Karura did.

Of course, they'll be at war from this chapter on. No surprise here.

 **\- Furyoku nullification technique**

It's said on the wiki that it's an high-level skill and I know for sure that both Hao and Anna can perform it. Karura... well, she really managed out of luck and momentary concentration: she was definitely irked by Anna and determined to "kick her ass", so she focused a lot more than usual.

Yes, Karura is usually easily distracted.

 **\- Karura dealing with Mikihisa's stalker tendencies**

She attracts misfortune. There's not a single good experience she has that doesn't end with something tragic.

( _Karura: And whose fault is that?!_ )

I strangely find easier to write those scenes and the dialogues than other passages, but well...

Why she didn't react while attacked by her father? See the last sentence of the previous explanation: she gets easily distracted, which - ironically - is the same thing she said to Anna earlier. I also think that Miki has somehow developed and mastered a ninja-stalker technique to go unnoticed by his children (besides from Hao).

Sum up these two things and you'll get how Karura didn't see the attack coming and is now dying/already dead. Again.

.

 **Sooo, yeah. I feel like the explanations were longer than the chapter...**

 **Till the next update, bye everyone!**


	15. Chapter 15: Before the start II

**Hi there!**

 **I know I'm shamefully late for this chapter, but for some private reasons I've been neglecting writing for the last months.**

 **Usual real-life-and-personal problems that I will not bother you with.**

 **Sooo, yeah. This story is already on hiatus and this will probably be the last update for the moment. I'll still answer to questions or anything via PM, as always.**

 **I apologize sincerely to everyone who read the story so far, added it to the lists and reviewed. I love you all this my heart!**

 **.**

 **Warnings: mostly OC!centric, possible OOC, mistakes and stuff.**

 **Lots of coarse language since our protagonist is rather... vocal sometimes (please bear with her, she'll get better... hopefully).**

 **Rated T for language and some themes. (I'm not sure if I should put M instead since I'm not used to the rating here - please tell me if you think I should change that!)**

 **.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, but I do own part of the plot and my adorable OC.**

* * *

Quick premise: in the past I had some occasions to visit hell during Shiho's training because the woman thought that sending me in a comatose state and have my conscience/spirit down in the underworld was a _splendid_ idea to make me stronger.

 _Lovely_ , right?

I had to compensate my lack of talent with hard work at least.

So, basically during my trips in the whatever-it's-called realm I had met various ghosts who live there. One of them was this little man (at least I thought it was a man from the voice and his attire: he dressed a male version of the traditional Japanese kimono with a black, hooded mantel that always prevented me from seeing his face), which would often accompany me for a little walk-and-talk session.

I enjoyed heartedly his company since he was always polite and knowledgeable; it was fun talking with him.

«Well? Why did you die this time? I bet you pissed off the Tamashimi wife by calling her "old hag" again.»

«Calling her names was worth it every time. However this time it was not her, it was father.»

The spirit looked at me, slight shock oozing from his form. «You managed to enrage even Hanemasa?»

I snorted, frowning. «...my biological father, that _motherf-cking_ _ass_. Hanemasa is a saint, he wouldn't kill me even if I made him angry.»

The little man snorted because of my choice of language: the first times I arrived here he tried to correct my foul mouth, but to no avail. After two lives of swearing that's become a part of me, really.

But back to us...

«You got a point, indeed.»

Sighing and shaking my head from side to side, I thought about the huge mess I was in: dead, alone in the hell realm of humans (according to the Buddhist tradition) and I left Yoh alone with a dangerous man! My hands were instantly on my face, covering it entirely and muffling the groan of despair that left my lips.

 _How could I be so stupid?!_

«And here she goes self-pitying again... do you know that this doesn't help you, right?»

I groaned louder. «I know! I f-cking know, alright! I'm just worried about my little brother with the man who was ready to kill him when he was merely an infant and who killed a person right in front of him! I mean, okay, I'm kind of siding with the enemy of their life BUT if they wanted Yoh to fight against me, well, they should have considered that he doesn't like assassins! ...with a few exceptions, really.»

I corrected myself as my mind went to Ren and his case. He had some family issues _and_ self-control problems as well...

* * *

Meanwhile in the world of the livings, Tao Ren sneezed loudly.

Horo Horo said that someone was surely talking behind his back and Chocolove simply cracked a joke on that (saying that maybe he had pierced some lady' heart with his kwan-dao).

Both were immediately hit by the Chinese boy and his pole arm mercilessly.

* * *

... but it was not his fault, right? Not entirely at least.

I shook my head. «...point is, it's been stupid to kill me in front of him. _Totally_ stupid.»

And painful from my side, but whatever. I'll pay Mikihisa back for sure, one day.

My companion hummed. «Your brother seems to be a good hearted person.»

«You can say that!» A smile crept up my face. «There are only a few people as kind as him, that's precisely why I don't want to leave him at the mercy of those stupid Asakuras and the Oni Empress.»

I went on raging and calling the onmyouji family hateful names for a few moments, only noticing how the little one went quiet after that phrase. Once my bad temper died down a bit, I looked back at him after remembering a certain thing. «...By the way, err. Do you happen to know a ghost named Bur... Bwar...»

« _Bwar_? What kind of a name is that?» he questioned.

«Shoosh! I'm trying to remember here...» What the hell was he called again...?! After a few moments of brainstorming, it came back to me. «Right! Blamuro! He was a Romanian catholic or something back in the... huh, I don't remember which century. By the way, he should have arrived here not long ago, I think.»

The little man hummed to himself, a furred hand on his chin.

«Is he possibly the man disgracefully dressed, with long blonde hair?»

I remembered the attire he wore back at Mesa Veldede with a deadpan. «...definitely him. Can you bring me to where he is?»

He stared at me - at least I think he did? With the hood covering his face I couldn't see a Goddamn thing - for a few moments before nodding and leading the way.

* * *

Mikihisa was not a heartless man, this he was sure: he loved his wife and cared for his apprentice, his friend's children and his own son. It's just that he didn't wear his heart on his sleeve, so was often seen as such; it was that, when he joined the Asakura family, he had sworn to do anything for its sake.

He became an ascetic monk and choose to live alone for years and years to steel his will, to ready himself for the worst to happen. And it did. He had a daughter who turned her back to the family, then Hao reincarnated in his second child - or children, as he later found out.

But he was ready to face those difficulties for the sake of his wife.

However, watching his son like this - pained and shocked upon seeing his sister lay limp on the ground in a pool of blood - made him feel pained as well.

«Why did you do that, dad?! She wasn't- she didn't have her spirit!» Yoh shouted at him angrily, already knelt down beside the girl.

Mikihisa sighed to himself, managing to keep his emotions under control. «You know already who she is and who she sides with. She's a threat just as Hao is, therefore-» he paused, his tone firm. «-as an Asakura and her father, it was my duty to stop her.»

«So it's alright to kill a defenseless person because you think is dangerous? That's insane!» the boy retorted. «I've known her for a while and I can tell that she's not a bad fellow. She may be a bit strange and loose her cool sometimes, but Karura's definitely not evil!»

The man frowned slightly. «Yoh, she attacked Yohmei, Kino and me in the past only because we "badmouthed" Hao.»

«She defended her brother, just as she did today for me!»

«Her intention today was to kill Anna, if she didn't use furyoku nullification Karura would have taken her life.»

«You can't know it for sure, you don't know her! She definitely wouldn't have done it...»

«Oh? Since when do _you_ know her so well? You met her only some weeks ago.»

«And _why_ is that? You never told me I had a sister and a brother, so how could I have known before!?»

The ascetic monk shook his head, his long dark hair swinging from side to side as he listened to his last son voice almost cracking. He was also ready to that: Yoh couldn't understand the priorities – he was still too much sentimental for his own good and had the tendency to hold... _problematic_ people in high regard.

And as his father and an Asakura, Mikihisa would have to correct that kind of demeanor as soon as possible. He would take Yoh home with him, to his relatives, and-

The man suddenly found himself flying backwards, a burning feeling on his chest and abdomen. He had barely the time to order his spirits around that he was slammed on the ground by a giant iron hammer, that held him in place afterwards without crushing him.

 _For the moment, at least_.

Everything happened in a matter of seconds, so fast that Yoh almost didn't realize. Almost.

He jolted a bit when he felt a sudden gust of warm hair coming from behind, a familiar voice already speaking out loud. «That was not nice, you know? You should abandon strategies such as attacking undefended people, Mikihisa. They don't work well, you know that already.»

«Hao...» the older Asakura seethed, his expression invisible because of the mask but his anger well clear in his voice.

It took a moment for him to realize that, despite the fact that Karura was basically bleeding to death, it was the first time that his three children were together; and he also knew that it was not the best moment to have such thoughts, actually the exact opposite, but he couldn't help himself.

Hao snorted in irritation a few seconds later. «Such hypocrisy makes me want to erase you from existence.» he began, his tone low and serious. «It reminds me why I want to wipe people such as you away from the planet.»

In that instant, Yoh could have sworn that his brother was already set to kill.

He came to a conclusion in that same moment: unlike some people, who had a violent streak and could kill someone out of the momentary anger, Hao was so much accustomed to killing that it came scarily easy to him as a solution. Karura had told him something about it vaguely, but he didn't put too much mind into that before that exact moment.

And, well, even if he could understand his older twin's anger (he was feeling the same, so could relate _very_ much) he couldn't accept death to be the only solution.

Plus, Yoh was definitely _not_ ready to see another member of his family to die before his eyes; the idea made him sick, to think how powerless he was in a situation like this...!

Upon reading his younger twin's thoughts, the fire shaman felt somehow satisfied - at least Yoh understood how deep the gap between their abilities was and probably also found another reason to become stronger. This was honestly all Hao could have wanted: his other half beginning to strive after power.

It improved his mood a little.

His eyes wandered over his sister's unconscious form and he immediately noted her spirit hovering over her, a concentrated frown on her usually taunting and playful face. He could tell that despite everything Tsumizuki had developed some kind of respect for Karura; after staying by her side for many years, the ghost lady took note of the determination of her human companion and begun to probably like that side of her.

Oh, the _irony_ of fate. Ending up liking the person which she wanted to ruin at the beginning.

«Everything alright there?» Hao suddenly asked in his usual cheerful tone, only to receive a smirk from the female ghost before she proceeded to possess Karura's body. She adjusted a bit and tried to move her injured arm and neck; she didn't jerked the body too much though because, well, she didn't need it to scar permanently: the human would bitch endlessly about it and Tsumitsuki didn't want that, thank you very much.

« _Mmh, could've done worse, Hao-chan. I can manage the injuries myself with the strings, but her spirit has already taken a trip to Hell._ Again _._ » Tsumizuki chimed with an exasperated sigh, tapping her right index on her chin. « _Geez, it's like her favourite destination for a vacation~_ »

«Or she has suicidal tendencies.»

«... _that's also possible~_ »

* * *

Somewhere in the Asura Realm a certain shaman sneezed loudly, successfully scaring her ghost companions due to the sudden action.

She swore that someone was going to pay for speaking about her behind her back; she definitely had an idea about who she had to talk to once she came back.

* * *

« _Sooo_...» the former shinobi began again, her spiritual strings already wrapping the wounds' edges back together to stop the bleeding. « _Are we going to do something or what?_ » She nodded her head towards Mikihisa. « _Even if I quite like the sight of executions, it's_ boring _if it takes too long._ »

It took a moment for Yoh to snap from his paralysis state, but he managed to stand up again; his guardian ghost silent but always ready to assist. «Can't we just leave and take care of Karura's wounds?» the young Asakura suggested - more like, implicitly _desperately_ _demanded_ -, obtaining a chuckle from his twin.

«Don't you want to pay him back for what he did to our sister, who accepts us as we are and is willing to put up a fight for our sake?» Hao asked teasingly, now facing his other half and acting as if the man under Lucifer's hammer was non-existing.

Yoh simply furrowed his brows, looking rather annoyed, worried and serious all at the same time. He kept silent, though. Neither he nor his twin broke that silence for a few, long moments, until the fire shaman turned again and stepped to the immobilized form of Mikihisa.

«You're really lucky that Yoh's here and that he's so much against murder, otherwise you'd be dead now.» he whispered to the man's ear, once he knelt down to his level. «But remember one thing, Mikihisa. I won't tolerate similar actions again from any of you, either towards my brother or my sister.»

 _Stay out of their lives or I'll kill you for sure,_ was the hinted message which, by the wave of emotions that Hao sensed from the man, was properly received. He knew that the Asakuras were not so easy to convince, but he nonetheless took satisfaction from feeling the fear coming off of the ascetic shaman as he strolled over his siblings.

«Well, I think we can go now. Luchist.» Hao said, smirking as usual.

The former head of the X-Laws nodded once from his spirit's shoulder and removed the weight blocking the older Asakura on the ground before reaching for Hao, Yoh and Tsumizuki with his free hand. The fire shaman was the first hopping on, immediately followed by Tsumizuki (still in Karura's body), who sat down cross legged.

« _Master Yoh, I don't think it's a good idea_...» Amidamaru finally spoke up, eyeing cautiously the giant hand before them. « _What if it's a trap and-_ »

« _Hey, oh so great samurai. Will you shut up and bring your ass here along with your lovely master?_ » Tsumizuki spat, looking indignantly at him. « _We don't have all day, you know_.»

The male spirit didn't take that well.

« _Why don't you just_ _ **go**_ _then if you're in such a hurry?_ » he answered, his voice mirroring the shinobi's.

« _I swear to god, you're always as pleasant as a pole struck up the ass._ » the female ghost said and simply rolled her eyes.

Amidamaru snorted in offense. « _How_ dare _you say something like that! I'm merely concerned for my master, unlike you evidently! And what's with that rude attitude? Aren't you supposed to be more womanly-like?!_ »

« _Tch, as if I have to be polite around you scum._ »

« _What's that supposed to mean?!_ »

« _Guuuys_ , don't fight now, please!» Yoh intervened sensing that the situation was definitely going down a hill, his hands held up in a calming manner. «It's fine, Amidamaru. We'll be alright, thanks for your concern.»

Saying this, he also hopped on the giant hand of the fallen angel, immediately followed by his spirit despite his still present hesitation. That didn't last much, though: he snapped again at Tsumizuki after her remark about "someone being a faithful little pet".

Ignoring Luchist's and Hao's amused smirks, Yoh sat down too with a ling sigh. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **Shiver**. «Uh...»

«Something wrong?» the little man asked suddenly.

I sighed. «I think Tsumi is bitching again towards someone. A samurai, I bet.»

«You mentioned it before, but now I'm kind of curious. Why does she hate swordsmen so much?»

It was the first time that he showed interest in something like that (but again, probably the short time I spent in Hell was not even remotely enough to understand this little fellow). The sudden change made me a little surprised.

So, scratching the back of my head a bit, I began. «Well... It's something that happened in her life, back when she was a mercenary. She had been deployed by many daimyos at that time because of her skills, but... well, it's more like she had to change master often because she killed them off after a while, when she got too bored.»

«That's a nasty habit.»

«Right? Thing is, she was so rightfully paranoid that she made sure that nobody alive ever found out about her habit. I must say she managed quite well for years, according to what she told me. Anyway, the last daimyo she served... someone told him about her 'secret', despite everything she did to prevent that from happen. I don't know how they found out, really. He still made use of her skill, she told me that the noble had her follow a couple of men - a samurai and a blacksmith, I think - that served under him because he feared that they'd betray him or something. Well, they kind of did in the end, so she confirmed the suspects to the daimyo and he had both of them sentenced to death shortly after.»

Pausing after the rather long explanation, I took a breath. «Some days later he made her kill a few people that got in his "way to the glory", before ordering her execution too. It was not... _pleasant_... like, _at all_.»

The thought of what those men actually did to her made me cringe again. I couldn't really blame her for the hatred she felt towards samurais (and a little towards men in general, at times) and older men. No doubt she turned into a vengeful ghost.

Silence followed that exchange.

We were still in the realm of humans, even after walking for ages. I was beginning to get - more - annoyed, because my little companion here was taking his sweet time to guide me to Blamuro; and I did not really have the time to play around here. I was hoping that Mikihisa was not as much as an awful person as I thought he was and didn't do something bad to Yoh.

A shiver ran down my spine at the thought: if he threw away any kind of paternal love in order to defeat Hao, there was the possibility that he would use every trick to have Yoh on their side. What if they had some technique to erase memories? Or even erase feelings? The last thing I wanted was Yoh turning into a puppet in their hands, honestly.

Maybe I was being a little too paranoid, but you never know what awaits you in life.

«Err, Mister? Can we walk a little faster? I probably already said this, but I'm in a bit of a hurr-»

The phrase hanged in the air as I felt a strange sensation running through my whole body, as if something invisible had begun pulling me away from that place while light electric waves ran into every fiber of my ghostly body. I totally freaked out in the moment, my mind screaming bloody murder because - and I quote - _what the f-uck was happening now?!_

The little man sighed at my panicked state. «Calm down, Karura. It's only the effect of the resurrection technique.»

I paused. « _The_ **_what_**?»

«Someone's trying to bring you back to life.» he explained patiently, making me blink in surprise a few times.

... _Oh_.

Well... that was the first time I experienced that. The other times I ended up in the netherworld I had to fight my way out like the first time, only Tsumizuki _with_ me against my _dear old friend_ (please notice the sarcasm) King and guardian. It was hard as hell the first attempts and we both had to... have a strategic retreat of sorts to rethink about how to get past him.

«But, wait... Who is even trying that for me?»

From what I remembered there were only three people capable to perform the technique, namely Hao, Jeanne and Sati. And I was really hoping it was not the little girl, because I'd rather stay dead than owing her and the X-Laws. Sati... well, she was okay probably. She wanted a world of peace, not really erase "the evil" from the planet.

 _I'll have to meet her sooner or later_ , I reminded myself, before noticing that my 'body' was becoming more and more transparent as second passed.

Before I completely vanished and my sight went all black, I felt a glimpse of exasperation from the little man; as if he was trying not to facepalm at my question, for the answer should have been quite obvious.

And, well, it probably was but hey! I was not exactly in my right mind, okay?

(so much for finding excuses for my own stupidity sometimes)

«I guess that's it for now, then.» he said, a little note of amusement in his voice. I didn't have the time to question him about it that the world became completely blank for a few seconds, before turning into a pitch black scenario.

* * *

When I managed to open my eyes and actually see something, I found myself staring at the 'ceiling' of a tent. I was laying down on a mat, covered by a thin blanket that managed to keep me a little warm.

Not that the weather was cold or anything. It was good actually.

Main problem was, my head was killing me: it always happened after I came back from the netherworld, but this time was _way_ worse. I groaned and tucked myself under the blanket from head to toe, hissing as the movement made the skin of my left upper body stretch along with the wounded muscles.

The thought of my wounds and Yoh made me jump up despite everything. I had to find him as-

« _It was you! Everything that happened that night was all your fault!_ »

« _Hah, weren't you the one that couldn't protect your friend?! And he was the first that thought about betraying your master by going against his orders._ His _fault, not_ mine _._ »

« _Well, probably because Mosuke treasured his ethics, unlike a certain shinobi that killed for money and fun!_ »

« _That's still better than dying alone for a stupid promise! And don't give me that shit, you killed people for fun too. If you didn't enjoy the feeling, you wouldn't have chosen that way!_ »

Two familiar, overly-angry voices shouted at each other outside.

I could recognize them: it was Amidamaru and Tsumizuki. It took me a few moments to realize that my spirit, her voice usually relatively low-tone albeit teasing, was shouting. Curiosity and apprehension washed away my tiredness and part of the migraine I was getting; I finally got up, realizing that my clothes had been changed: no more t-shirt and jeans, I was wearing a simple, knee-length, red yukata.

Not questioning the change further (I didn't need to feel embarrassed after waking up like that), I went outside and found that hell broke loose between the two spirits: they had begun to fight physically too, Amidamaru with his katana and Tsumizuki with wires and her short sword.

Sighing, I looked around and surprisingly found myself in Hao's camp: I could see his followers not far from the two duelists, enjoying the show. The men were probably betting on the winner too, as usual, while the Hana-gumi and Boris looked rather annoyed by the duel itself; too much noise, probably.

To my surprise I also spotted Yoh and Hao sitting near the campfire, watching the spirits and chatting, and not too far from them...

I gaped like a goldfish a few times, frozen in place. _Yoi-chan and Lirirara?! What the actual f-ck?_

I could understand Yoichi, but Lirirara was here too. "Near" her-almost-murderer-and-cause-of-her-tribe's-demise **_Hao_**.

Like, _EEEHH_?

I thought she despised him, that she was afraid of him... I wasn't still dreaming, right? I rubbed my eyes with both hands.

«Holy shit, I can't be out for a few minutes that the world ends up upside down?» I said out loud without thinking. «What comes next, Ren's secret passion for pink teddy bears?»

Before I could even register the shouts of my name I was tackled to the ground by a flash of fluffy brown hair. I saw stars dancing around my head when it collided ungracefully with the ground. «OUCH! Jesus Christ, Yoichi-!»

«What the HELL were you thinking?!» he screamed at my face, pulling my up by the hems of the kimono. «Lowering your guard even knowing that there's someone following you? Leaving your spirit behind? Are you stupid or what?! You're not at home with father anymore, Karura! If you die here we don't know if you'll be able to come back!»

Yoichi was angry. No, scratch that; he was beyond _furious_.

And the worst thing is that I couldn't reply because he was definitely right. I could practically hear his teeth grinding in the new found silence of the camp and feel many gazes on us. I wanted so much to remind him that I was still alive -at the moment- and he had to calm down because he was making a goddamn scene, but I couldn't find myself to do it this time: maybe it was because I knew that it had been more, _more_ dangerous than before.

It's true that Shiho sent me to Hell a few times, but it was always with a special enchantment which she and Harumasa casted on me; to bring me back almost safely, if needed.

But this time I was dead for real. _Again_. Because of my carelessness.

Realizing that was not cool.

It was after a few moments that a hand came down on Yoichi's shoulder. It was Lirirara. «Yoichi-san is right... we were really... really worried when your spiritual pressure vanished. We thought something bad happened... when we followed Yoh's furyoku to find you both, well...»

«They ended up here and refused to leave until you woke up.» This was Yoh. «No matter how many times Hao told them he didn't know how much you'd need to regain consciousness, they stayed _here_.»

I felt a strange warmth in my chest, as Yoh implied that Yoichi and Lirirara stayed "in the lion's den" there _for me_.

«...I'm sorry...» I murmured, lowering my gaze. I felt some stinging in my eyes and I almost didn't realize the feeling of tears streaming down my cheeks.

 _Holy-!_ No, this was not planned! I didn't mean to cry like that, like a little child that got reprimanded by her parents after doing something bad.

My hands flew rapidly to my face, wiping away the tears and rubbed my eyes. Those traitorous drops just wouldn't stop though.

«It's not like I planned to be killed...» Here goes the sobbing too. _God, I'm so embarrassed!_ «But I made you all worry. For that... I apologize.»

A hand patted me on the head after that. «And here I thought you'd never say something like that. You've grown up a bit, _nee-san_.»

I glared (more like, pouted) at Hao, who was grinning teasingly at me, and mumbled. «I may be an idiot at times, but even I can see when I'm wrong...»

I didn't see the smiles that graced my friends' and brothers' lips: I still was too busy trying to escape Yoichi's grasp and endless earful; _of course_ he had to make sure I learned my lesson and never try to die accidentally without supervision - as if I planned to do that every second of my life!

Still, it felt like the group I was part of finally became... a little, tiny bit closer.

 _Good enough for me._


End file.
